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Sly vs Deceit - What's the difference?

sly | deceit |

As an adjective sly

is artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.

As an adverb sly

is slyly.

As a noun deceit is

an act or practice intended to deceive; a trick.

sly

English

(Webster 1913)

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

  • Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
  • Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble; skillful; cautious; shrewd; knowing; — in a good sense.
  • Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle; as, a sly trick.
  • Light or delicate; slight; thin.
  • Synonyms

    * artful * cunning * knowing * sharp * crafty * shrewd * shifty * sly as a fox * slim * wily * See also

    Derived terms

    * sly as a fox * slyboots * slyness

    Adverb

  • Slyly.
  • Anagrams

    * ----

    deceit

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (obsolete)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An act or practice intended to deceive; a trick
  • The whole conversation was merely a deceit .
  • An act of deceiving someone
  • * {{quote-book, year=1998, author=Mike Dixon-Kennedy, title=Encyclopedia of Greco-Roman Mythology, page=125, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=2U7okUE3PIcC&pg=PA125
  • , passage=Upon his return he killed Eriphyle for her vanity and deceit of him and his father. }}
  • (uncountable) The state of being deceitful or deceptive
  • * {{quote-book, year=1611, title=King James Bible, chapter=Psalms 10:7
  • , passage=His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud: under his tongue is mischief and vanity.}}
  • (legal) The tort or fraudulent representation of a material fact made with knowledge of its falsity, or recklessly, or without reasonable grounds for believing its truth and with intent to induce reliance on it; the plaintiff justifiably relies on the deception, to his injury.
  • Synonyms

    * (act or behavior intended to deceive) trick, fraud * (act of deceiving) deception, trickery * (state of being deceptive) underhandedness, deceptiveness, deceitfulness, dissimulation, fraudulence, trickery * See also

    Derived terms

    * deceitful