sly
adjective
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slyest
also sliest\ ˈslī-əst
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Definition of sly
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Synonyms & Antonyms for sly
Synonyms
artful, beguiling, cagey (also cagy), crafty, cunning, cute, designing, devious, dodgy [chiefly British], foxy, guileful, scheming, shrewd, slick, subtle, tricky, wily
Antonyms
artless, guileless, ingenuous, innocent, undesigning
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Examples of sly in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The book is narrated by David Aaron Baker, a Southerner himself and an accomplished actor whose calm, rueful delivery accords with the sly humor of this terrifically entertaining book. — Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post, "Gore Vidal’s ‘Lincoln’ and other best audiobooks for summer’s end," 29 Aug. 2019 Peppa Pig's first album could have capitalized on her instant virality with this debut album, turning its sly British humor for kids into pop gold for everyone. — Joshua Bote, USA TODAY, "Peppa Pig just dropped her new, long-awaited album. It's no 'Baby Shark'," 19 July 2019 Castrated at birth, the sly sashaying Salima exists in between the boundaries of gender. — Karen D'souza, The Mercury News, "Review: Swashbuckling world premiere ‘House of Joy’ hits and misses at Cal Shakes," 19 Aug. 2019 Long known to have a sly sense of humor, Dr. Cohen published technical papers over the years with a mysterious, imaginary co-author, Professor J. Finnegan, of Oceanview University in Oceanview, Kan. — Katie Hafner, New York Times, "Danny Cohen, Who Helped Set the Stage for a Digital Era, Dies at 81," 16 Aug. 2019 Ganambarr, an indigenous Australian dancer making his screen acting debut, won a prize at last year’s Venice International Film Festival for his sly, spirited performance, which reshapes the picture in ways both obvious and not. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Review: ‘The Nightingale’ is a brilliant, horrifying tale of revenge," 15 Aug. 2019 Climbing the stairs of the Stade de France to collect a runners-up medal following his side's defeat in the French Cup final, Neymar was drawn in to an altercation with a Rennes supporter which ended in the Brazilian aiming a sly punch at the fan. — SI.com, "Neymar: 6 Defining Moments of the Brazilian's Two Years at Paris Saint-Germain," 3 Aug. 2019 After three nefarious farmers declare war on them, a sly fox rallies his animal neighbors to fight back. — Los Angeles Times, "Here are the feature and TV films airing the week of Sunday, Aug. 11, 2019," 11 Aug. 2019 But before drama turned rapid-fire, there was the sly splendor of the 10 candidates on stage, standing side by side, captured with a trippy canniess by Brendan Smialowski. — Jason Parham, WIRED, "Depth of Field: The Otherworldliness of the Democratic Presidential Debates," 1 Aug. 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sly.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for sly
sly
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of sly
See the full definition for sly in the English Language Learners Dictionary
sly
adjective
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