guile

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guile

 (gīl)
n.
1. Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.
2. A trick or stratagem.
tr.v. guiled, guil·ing, guiles Archaic
To beguile; deceive.

[Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English wigle, divination, sorcery.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

guile

(ɡaɪl)
n
clever or crafty character or behaviour
[C18: from Old French guile, of Germanic origin; see wile]
ˈguileful adj
ˈguilefully adv
ˈguilefulness n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

guile

(gaɪl)

n.
insidious cunning in attaining a goal; crafty deception.
[1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Germanic; akin to wile]
syn: See deceit.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.guile - shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deceptionguile - shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
astuteness, perspicaciousness, perspicacity, shrewdness - intelligence manifested by being astute (as in business dealings)
2.guile - the quality of being crafty
disingenuousness - the quality of being disingenuous and lacking candor
3.guile - the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)guile - the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)
dissimulation, deception, dissembling, deceit - the act of deceiving
dupery, hoax, put-on, humbug, fraud, fraudulence - something intended to deceive; deliberate trickery intended to gain an advantage
jugglery - artful trickery designed to achieve an end; "the senator's tax program was mere jugglery"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

guile

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

guile

noun
2. The act or practice of deceiving:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
مُكْر، إحْتيال النساء
lest
listsnuhed
vélabrögî, kænska
atviraširdisatviraširdiškaiatviraširdiškumasklasta
viltībaviltus
hilekârlık

guile

[gaɪl] Nastucia f
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

guile

[ˈgaɪl] nruse f, astuce f
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

guile

nTücke f, → (Arg)list f; to have guilesehr tückisch or arglistig sein; without guileohne Arg, ohne Falsch (liter)
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

guile

[gaɪl] nastuzia
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

guile

(gail) noun
the ability to deceive or trick people. She used guile to get him to propose to her.
ˈguileless adjective
honest; sincere. a guileless person/smile.
ˈguilelessly adverb
ˈguilelessness noun
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
So, listening to the advice of Theology, all the company rode off to London, Guile leading the way.
"What we have divided we have divided," he seems to say in his gruff voice, this ruler without guile, who hurls as if in sport enormous masses of cloud across the sky, and flings the great waves of the Atlantic clear across from the shores of the New World upon the hoary headlands of Old Europe, which harbours more kings and rulers upon its seamed and furrowed body than all the oceans of the world together.
Society had three arms in its contest with the individual, laws, public opinion, and conscience: the first two could be met by guile, guile is the only weapon of the weak against the strong: common opinion put the matter well when it stated that sin consisted in being found out; but conscience was the traitor within the gates; it fought in each heart the battle of society, and caused the individual to throw himself, a wanton sacrifice, to the prosperity of his enemy.
From the time he received this news to the end of the campaign all Kutuzov's activity was directed toward restraining his troops, by authority, by guile, and by entreaty, from useless attacks, maneuvers, or encounters with the perishing enemy.
Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd The Mother of Mankinde, what time his Pride Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in Glory above his Peers, He trusted to have equal'd the most High, If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim Against the Throne and Monarchy of God Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud With vain attempt.
She knew that he loved her--a frank, blustering fellow without guile enough to conceal his feelings, and no desire to do so.
They meant no guile, but the wind drove them off their course, and we sailed on till we came hither by night.
And now I know he hungers, where no food Is to be found, in the wide Wilderness: The rest commit to me; I shall let pass No advantage, and his strength as oft assay." He ceased, and heard their grant in loud acclaim; Then forthwith to him takes a chosen band Of Spirits likest to himself in guile, To be at hand and at his beck appear, If cause were to unfold some active scene Of various persons, each to know his part; Then to the desert takes with these his flight, Where still, from shade to shade, the Son of God, After forty days' fasting, had remained, Now hungering first, and to himself thus said:-- "Where will this end?
This line of reflection I discovered to be as distressing as the former, but, though I tried to turn my mind to other things, it persisted in returning to the vision of an oval face, sun-tanned; of smiling lips, revealing white and even teeth; of brave eyes that harbored no shadow of guile; and of a tumbling mass of wavy hair that crowned the loveliest picture on which my eyes had ever rested.
There was no mastery to be obtained over him except by kindness or guile. David tried guile.