1
as in cunning
clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means
tried to fix the game with a guileful plot to sabotage the other team's bats, but the umpire caught them
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in deceptive
given to or marked by cheating and deception
received a guileful answer when I asked the dealer if the used car had ever been in a collision
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for guileful
Adjective
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The Residence starred Uzo Aduba as quirky detective Cordelia Cupp, who uses her cunning intellect and obsessive bird-watching abilities to crack otherwise unsolvable cases.—
Andy Swift,
TVLine,
2 July 2025 -
As for steps that could be taken in the nineteenth century, Lyell managed to invent a cunning way to determine the relative age of geological strata.—
Lewis Hyde,
Harpers Magazine,
18 June 2025
Adjective
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The suit alleges excessive fees resulting in high annual percentage rates, deceptive tipping practices and misleading consumers about the voluntary nature of fees.—
AJ Dhaliwal,
Forbes.com,
9 July 2025
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Mayes seeks to dissolve both companies, citing violations of the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act and deceptive practices targeting underage customers.—
Jose R. Gonzalez,
AZCentral.com,
9 July 2025
Adjective
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Oh, and the best pairs of the bunch are also plain old comfy (and cute, in a gorpcore kind of way).—
Sara Coughlin,
SELF,
7 July 2025
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July 6, 2025: Rodman watching Shelton’s match at Wimbledon is so cute the ESPN announcer literally giggles trying to talk about them.—
Elizabeth Logan,
Glamour,
7 July 2025
Adjective
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Why Amazon Prime Day scammers are winning and how to stay ahead While Amazon hasn't released a formal statement yet, the company maintains ongoing efforts to detect and remove fraudulent listings and suspicious domains.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
5 July 2025
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Republished on July 4 with further police and federal agency warnings that fraudulent callers are now targeting smartphone users in the U.S. This is not the FBI.—
Zak Doffman,
Forbes.com,
4 July 2025
Adjective
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They are intended to reduce trauma to the scalp, may contribute to smoother recovery, and are designed to help achieve subtle, natural-looking outcomes.—
Daniel Fusch,
USA Today,
12 July 2025
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The accessory was a subtle nod to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, whose colors have been green and purple since 1909.—
Renan Botelho,
Footwear News,
12 July 2025
Adjective
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To preserve your tools, clean them off then tuck them away somewhere cooler, dryer, and shadier like a garden shed or garage.—
Hallie Milstein,
Southern Living,
14 July 2025
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In his search for justice on the frontier, however, Rabbi Mo unknowingly wades into the center of a lethal conspiracy tied to a shady land deal.—
Josh Weiss,
Forbes.com,
14 July 2025
Adjective
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The coffeehouse patched with oleander, Captain’s house behind the crooked pine, our restaurant painted blue and white.—
Aysegül Savas,
Literary Hub,
8 July 2025
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The name of the waterfall, township and river is considered to be an English or French interpretation of the Ojibwe name for the river, meaning crooked river, Ocqueoc Township's website says.—
Jenna Prestininzi,
Freep.com,
7 July 2025
Adjective
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According to Orly Mazur, a tax specialist and associate professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, more people are likely willing to risk being dishonest when filing taxes.—
Marley Malenfant,
Austin American Statesman,
2 July 2025
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And worse yet, someone might be dishonest with you.—
Georgia Nicols,
Denver Post,
23 June 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Guileful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/guileful. Accessed 19 Jul. 2025.
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