sly

Other forms of sly

comparative or superlative

slier

comparative or superlative

sliest

comparative or superlative

slyer

comparative or superlative

slyest

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 sly

What does sly mean?

sly means "marked by skill in deception".

How many syllables are in sly?

sly has 1 syllable: sly. In IPA it is /ˈslaɪ/.

What is another word for sly?

Close synonyms include crafty, cunning, 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 sly a common word?

sly is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.