adj
Meaning 1
Skillful at deceiving others.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cunning, wily
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
crafty
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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US: /ˈkɹæfti/
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Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɹɑːfti/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -æfti
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CMU ARPABET: K R AE1 F T IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
adj
Meaning 2
Sneaky; surreptitious.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- I took a crafty look at his hand of cards while he was out of the room.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 3
Relating to, or characterized by, craft or skill; dexterous, clever.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adj
Meaning 4
Magical or occult, or allegedly so.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
Examples
- a crafty science
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 5
marked by skill in deception
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- cunning men often pass for wise
- deep political machinations
- a foxy scheme
- a slick evasive answer
- sly as a fox
- tricky Dick
- a wily old attorney
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wily
Antonyms: none provided
History
Etymology
From Middle English crafty, crefty, craftiȝ, from Old English cræftiġ (“ingenious; skilful; crafty; cunning; virtuous; powerful”), from Proto-West Germanic *kraftag, *kraftīg, *kraftug, from Proto-Germanic *kraftugaz (“powerful”), equivalent to craft + -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kräftich, krääftig, West Frisian krêftich, Dutch krachtig, German Low German krachtig, German kräftig.
Across languages
Translations
59 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: сръчен (srǎčen) — dexterous
- Italian: ingegnoso — dexterous
- Italian: destro — dexterous
- Italian: fantasioso — dexterous
- Russian: ло́вкий (lóvkij) — dexterous
- Spanish: diestro — dexterous
- Turkish: becerikli — dexterous
- Bulgarian: умел (umel) — skillful
- Finnish: taitava — skillful
- Finnish: kyvykäs — skillful
- Finnish: osaava — skillful
- Finnish: kykenevä — skillful
- German: geschickt — skillful
- Russian: уме́лый (umélyj) — skillful
- Russian: иску́сный (iskúsnyj) — skillful
- Spanish: mañoso — skillful
- Spanish: habiloso — skillful
- Turkish: becerikli — skillful
- Bulgarian: хитър (hitǎr) — cunning, wily
- Bulgarian: лукав (lukav) — cunning, wily
- Chinese Mandarin: 狡猾 (jiǎohuá) — cunning, wily
- Finnish: ovela — cunning, wily
- Finnish: viekas — cunning, wily
- French: rusé — cunning, wily
- French: madré — cunning, wily
- German: gerissen — cunning, wily
- German: schlau — cunning, wily
- German: listig — cunning, wily
- Gothic: 𐌻𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (listeigs) — cunning, wily
- Ancient Greek: πανοῦργος (panoûrgos) — cunning, wily
- Ancient Greek: κίδαφος (kídaphos) — cunning, wily
- Irish: cleasach — cunning, wily
- Italian: furbo — cunning, wily
- Japanese: 狡猾な (kōkatsu na) — cunning, wily
- Latin: dolōsus — cunning, wily
- Latin: vafer — cunning, wily
- Latin: callidus — cunning, wily
- Māori: mūrere — cunning, wily
- Māori: nanakia — cunning, wily
- Māori: rauhanga — cunning, wily
- Old English: ġēaplīċ — cunning, wily
- Persian: حیلهگر (hile-gar) — cunning, wily
- Polish: chytry — cunning, wily
- Polish: przebiegły — cunning, wily
- Polish: podstępny — cunning, wily
- Russian: хи́трый (xítryj) — cunning, wily
- Russian: кова́рный (kovárnyj) — cunning, wily
- Sanskrit: धूर्त (dhūrta) — cunning, wily
- Scottish Gaelic: seòlta — cunning, wily
- Spanish: astuto — cunning, wily
- Spanish: pillo — cunning, wily
- Spanish: listo — cunning, wily
- Spanish: pícaro — cunning, wily
- Turkish: kurnaz — cunning, wily
- Turkish: cingöz — cunning, wily
- Turkish: açıkgöz — cunning, wily
- Turkish: uyanık — cunning, wily
- Ottoman Turkish: قورناز (kurnaz) — cunning, wily
- Ottoman Turkish: آصمق (asmak) — cunning, wily
Real reading context