Meaning

4 senses
  1. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.

    schlau, gerissen, listig

    хи́трыйxítryj, кова́рныйkovárnyj, лука́выйlukávyj

    хи́трийxýtryj, лука́вийlukávyj

  2. Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice

    ло́вкийlóvkij

  3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle

    a sly trick

    иску́сныйiskúsnyj

  4. Light or delicate; slight; thin.

More definitions
  • marked by skill in deception

Examples

34 sentences
  1. Tom is a sly old dog.

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  2. Tom is as sly as a fox.

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  3. I don't like him because he's as sly as a fox.

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  4. Aren't you the sly one?

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  5. Tom is a sly fox.

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Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily:
Русский
By meaning 3
artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily:
dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble:
done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily:

Origin

From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slǿgr (“sly, cunning”, litera

From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slǿgr (“sly, cunning”, literally “capable of hitting or striking”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz (“lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, throw”).

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Forms

slier/slyer, sliest/slyest
Comparativeslier / slyer Lesson
Superlativesliest / slyest Lesson

regular

Synonyms

20 synonyms

Word family

7 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
sly — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto