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Cunning vs Sham - What's the difference?

cunning | sham | Related terms |

Cunning is a related term of sham.


As an adjective cunning

is sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.

As a noun cunning

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

As a proper noun sham is

syria.

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)

    sham

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Intended to deceive; false.
    • It was only a sham wedding: they didn't care much for one another but wanted their parents to stop hassling them.
  • counterfeit; unreal
  • * Jowett
    • They scorned the sham independence proffered to them by the Athenians.

    Synonyms

    * mock * See also

    Antonyms

    * genuine * sincere * real

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fake; an imitation that purports to be genuine.
    • The time-share deal was a sham .
  • Trickery, hoaxing.
    • A con-man must be skilled in the arts of sham and deceit.
  • A false front, or removable ornamental covering.
  • A decorative cover for a pillow.

    • Derived terms

    * shamateur

    See also

    * pillow sham

    Verb

    (shamm)
  • To deceive, cheat, lie.
  • * L'Estrange
    • Fooled and shammed into a conviction.
  • To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
  • * L'Estrange
    • We must have a care that we do not sham fallacies upon the world for current reason.
  • To assume the manner and character of; to imitate; to ape; to feign.

    • External links

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    Anagrams

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