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4 definitions found

From: DICT.TW English-Chinese Dictionary 英漢字典

 cun·ning /ˈkʌnɪŋ/
 (a.)狡猾的,巧妙的,可愛的

From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Cun·ning, n.
 1. Knowledge; art; skill; dexterity. [Archaic]
    Let my right hand forget her cunning.   --Ps. cxxxvii. 5.
 A carpenter's desert
 Stands more in cunning than in power.   --Chapman.
 2. The faculty or act of using stratagem to accomplish a purpose; fraudulent skill or dexterity; deceit; craft.
    Discourage cunning in a child; cunning is the ape of wisdom.   --Locke.
    We take cunning for a sinister or crooked wisdom.   --Bacon.
 

From: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

 Cun·ning a.
 1. Knowing; skillful; dexterous. “A cunning workman.”
 “Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
 Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on.   --Shak.
    Esau was a cunning hunter.   --Gen xxv. 27.
 2. Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious; curious; as, cunning work.
    Over them Arachne high did lift
    Her cunning web.   --Spenser.
 3. Crafty; sly; artful; designing; deceitful.
    They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.   --South.
 4. Pretty or pleasing; as, a cunning little boy. [Colloq. U.S.]
 Syn: -- Cunning, Artful, Sly, Wily, Crafty.
 Usage: These epithets agree in expressing an aptitude for attaining some end by peculiar and secret means. Cunning is usually low; as, a cunning trick. Artful is more ingenious and inventive; as, an artful device. Sly implies a turn for what is double or concealed; as, sly humor; a sly evasion. Crafty denotes a talent for dexterously deceiving; as, a crafty manager. Wily describes a talent for the use of stratagems; as, a wily politician.  A cunning man often shows his dexterity in simply concealing. An artful man goes further, and exerts his ingenuity in misleading. A crafty man mingles cunning with art, and so shapes his actions as to lull suspicions. The young may be cunning, but the experienced only can be crafty. Slyness is a vulgar kind of cunning; the sly man goes cautiously and silently to work. Wiliness is a species of cunning or craft applicable only to cases of attack and defense.”

From: WordNet (r) 2.0

 cunning
      adj 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" [syn:
             cute]
      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 Dik"; "a
         wily old attorney" [syn: crafty, dodgy, foxy, guileful,
          knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily]
      3: showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the
         cunning maneuvers leading to his success"; "an ingenious
         solution to the problem" [syn: clever, ingenious]
      n 1: shrewdness in deception; "as cunning as a fox"
      2: shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
         [syn: craft, craftiness, foxiness, guile, slyness,
          wiliness]
      3: drafty artfulness (especially in deception)