What does cunning mean?

cunning means "attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in cunning?

cunning has 2 syllables: cun-ning. The stress falls on "cun". In IPA it is /ˈkʌnɪŋ/.

What is another word for cunning?

Close synonyms include cute, crafty, dodgy, foxy, guileful. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is cunning a common word?

cunning is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

cunning — meaning, pronunciation and 5 definitions

adjective

3 sensesA word that describes or qualifies a noun.

1.
attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
“a cute kid with pigtails”
“a cute little apartment”
“cunning kittens”
“a cunning baby”
Synonymscute
Similarattractive
2.
marked by skill in deception
“cunning men often pass for wise”
“deep political machinations”
“a foxy scheme”
“a slick evasive answer”
“sly as a fox”
“tricky Dick”
“a wily old attorney”
Synonymscrafty dodgy foxy guileful knavish slick sly tricksy tricky wily
Similarartful
3.
showing inventiveness and skill
“a clever gadget”
“the cunning maneuvers leading to his success”
“an ingenious solution to the problem”
Synonymsclever ingenious
Similaradroit

noun

2 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
Synonymscraft craftiness foxiness guile slyness wiliness
Broadershrewdness
2.
crafty artfulness (especially in deception)
Broaderartfulness

Other forms of cunning

plural: cunnings·
comparative: cunninger·
superlative: cunningest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about cunning

What does cunning mean?: cunning means "attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.
How many syllables are in cunning?: cunning has 2 syllables: cun-ning. The stress falls on "cun". In IPA it is /ˈkʌnɪŋ/.
What is another word for cunning?: Close synonyms include cute, crafty, dodgy, foxy, guileful. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is cunning a common word?: cunning is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for cunning come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.

adjective

3 sensesA word that describes or qualifies a noun.

1.
attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness
“a cute kid with pigtails”
“a cute little apartment”
“cunning kittens”
“a cunning baby”
Synonymscute
Similarattractive
2.
marked by skill in deception
“cunning men often pass for wise”
“deep political machinations”
“a foxy scheme”
“a slick evasive answer”
“sly as a fox”
“tricky Dick”
“a wily old attorney”
Synonymscrafty dodgy foxy guileful knavish slick sly tricksy tricky wily
Similarartful
3.
showing inventiveness and skill
“a clever gadget”
“the cunning maneuvers leading to his success”
“an ingenious solution to the problem”
Synonymsclever ingenious
Similaradroit

noun

2 sensesA person, place, thing, quality or idea.

1.
shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
Synonymscraft craftiness foxiness guile slyness wiliness
Broadershrewdness
2.
crafty artfulness (especially in deception)
Broaderartfulness

Other forms of cunning

plural: cunnings·
comparative: cunninger·
superlative: cunningest·

Questions about cunning

What does cunning mean?: cunning means "attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness". That is the primary sense; the word has 5 in total, listed in full on this page.
How many syllables are in cunning?: cunning has 2 syllables: cun-ning. The stress falls on "cun". In IPA it is /ˈkʌnɪŋ/.
What is another word for cunning?: Close synonyms include cute, crafty, dodgy, foxy, guileful. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.
Is cunning a common word?: cunning is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.

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cunning

adjective

noun

Other forms of cunning

Questions about cunning

Tools

Jump to

Images & video

PDF & writing

Calculate & convert

Health & fitness

AI, code & work

Learn & play

Tool directories

Search

Jump to

Explore AltFTool

Help

Theme

cunning

adjective

noun

Other forms of cunning

Questions about cunning