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Agile vs Cunning - What's the difference?

agile | cunning |

As adjectives the difference between agile and cunning

is that agile is having the faculty of quick motion in the limbs; apt or ready to move; nimble; active; as, an agile boy; an agile tongue while cunning is sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.

As a noun cunning is

(obsolete) knowledge; learning; special knowledge (sometimes implying occult or magical knowledge).

agile

English

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Having the faculty of quick motion in the limbs; apt or ready to move; nimble; active; as, an agile boy; an agile tongue.
  • * Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles
    • The man drew out paper and tobacco and twirled the one up in the other with surprising dexterity. He had long, quivering fingers as agile and restless as the antennae of an insect.
  • (computing) Of or relating to (Agile software development), a technique for iterative and incremental development of software involving collaboration between teams.
    • agile methods

    Synonyms

    * active, alert, nimble, brisk, lively, quick

    Derived terms

    * agility ----

    cunning

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) cunning, kunning, konnyng, alteration of earlier (etyl) cunninde, kunnende, cunnand, from (etyl) cunnende, present participle of . More at (l), (l).

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.
  • * South
    • They are resolved to be cunning ; let others run the hazard of being sincere.
  • (obsolete) Skillful, artful.
  • * Bible, Genesis xxv. 27
    • Esau was a cunning hunter.
  • * Bible, Exodus xxxviii. 23
    • a cunning workman
  • * Shakespeare
    • ''Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white / Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on.
  • (obsolete) Wrought with, or exibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious.
    • cunning work
  • * Spenser
    • Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning web.
  • (US, colloquial, rare) Cute, appealing.
    • a cunning little boy
    (Bartlett)
    Synonyms
    * See also

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) cunning, kunnyng, partially from (etyl) *.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) Knowledge; learning; special knowledge (sometimes implying occult or magical knowledge).
  • Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity.
  • * 2005 , .
    • indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.
  • Practical skill employed in a secret or crafty manner; craft; artifice; skillful deceit.
  • The disposition to employ one's skill in an artful manner; craftiness; guile; artifice; skill of being cunning, sly, conniving, or deceitful.
  • The natural wit or instincts of an animal.
    • the cunning of the fox or hare
    Synonyms
    * (l) * (l) * (l)