insidious

Main Entry:
insidious [in-sid-ee-uhs]
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: sneaky, tricky
Synonyms: Machiavellian, artful, astute, corrupt, crafty, crooked, cunning, dangerous, deceitful, deceptive, deep, designing, dishonest, disingenuous, duplicitous, ensnaring, false, foxy, guileful, intriguing, like a snake in the grass, perfidious, perilous, secret, slick, sly, smooth, snaky, sneaking, stealthy, subtle, surreptitious, treacherous, wily, wormlike
Notes: insidious (Latin insidere 'to lie in wait for,' from sedere 'sit') describes stealthy, treacherous behavior; invidious behavior arouses ill will, animosity, or hostility
Antonyms: fair, honest, open, sincere
Main Entry: cunning
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: devious
Synonyms: Machiavellian, acute, artful, astute, cagey, canny, crafty, crazy like fox, deep, fancy footwork, foxy, guileful, insidious, keen, knowing, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slippery, sly, sly boots, smart, smarts, smooth, street-smart, streetwise, subtle, tricky, wary, wily
Antonyms: gullible, kind, naive, shy
Main Entry: deceitful
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: dishonest, insincere
Synonyms: artful, astucious, astute, beguiling, clandestine, counterfeit, crafty, cunning, deceiving, deceptive, delusive, delusory, designing, disingenuous, double-dealing, duplicitous, fallacious, false, feline, foxy, fraudulent, furtive, guileful, hypocritical, illusory, impostrous, indirect, insidious, knavish, lying, mendacious, misleading, rascal, roguish, shifty, slick, sly, sneaky, stealthy, subtle, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, underhand, underhanded, untrustworthy, untruthful, wily
Notes: deceitful means intended to deceive or cheat while deceptive means causing one to believe what is not true or likely to mislead someone
Antonyms: faithful, frank, honest, loyal, open, sincere, trustworthy, truthful, upright
Main Entry: deceptive
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: dishonest
Synonyms: ambiguous, astucious, beguiling, bum*, catchy, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deceiving, deluding, delusive, delusory, designing, disingenuous, fake, fallacious, false, fishy, foxy, fraudulent, illusory, imposturous, indirect, insidious, lying, misleading, mock, oblique, off*, phony, plausible, rascal, roguish, scheming, seeming, serpentine, shifty, slick, slippery, sly, sneaky, snide, specious, spurious, subtle, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, underhand, underhanded, unreliable, wily
Notes: deceitful means intended to deceive or cheat while deceptive means causing one to believe what is not true or likely to mislead someone
Antonyms: forthright, frank, honest, open, truthful, upright
Main Entry: deep
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: scheming, devious
Synonyms: acute, artful, astute, canny, contriving, crafty, cunning, designing, foxy, guileful, insidious, intriguing, keen, knowing, plotting, sharp, shrewd, sly, tricky, wily
Antonyms: aboveboard, artless, open
Main Entry: devious
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: dishonest, crafty
Synonyms: artful, calculating, crooked, deceitful, double-dealing, duplicitous, errant, erring, evasive, faking one out, fishy, foxy*, fraudulent, guileful, indirect, insidious, insincere, not straightforward, oblique, obliquitous, playing games, playing politics, put on, roundabout, scheming, shady, shifty, shrewd, sly, sneaking, sneaky, surreptitious, treacherous, tricky, underhanded, wily
Antonyms: artless, frank, honest, open, straightforward, trustworthy, truthful
Main Entry: disingenuous
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: insincere
Synonyms: artful, crooked, cunning, deceitful, designing, dishonest, duplicitous, false, feigned, foxy, guileful, indirect, insidious, mendacious, oblique, shifty, sly, tricky, two-faced, uncandid, underhanded, unfair, unfrank, wily
Notes: ingenuous means 'naïve, easily deceived, unsuspecting; foolish' - and disingenuous means 'calculating, deceptive'
Antonyms: frank, honest, ingenuous, naive, sincere
Main Entry: foxy
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: shrewd
Synonyms: artful, astute, canny, crafty, cunning, deceitful, deep, devious, dishonest, experienced, guileful, insidious, intelligent, knowing, retiary, sharp, slick, sly, subtle, tricky, vulpine, wily
Antonyms: naive, unclever, unintelligent, unsmart
Main Entry: furtive
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: sneaky, secretive
Synonyms: artful, calculating, cautious, circumspect, clandestine, cloaked, conspiratorial, covert, crafty*, creepy*, cunning, disguised, elusive, evasive, foxy, guileful, hidden, hush-hush, insidious, masked, scheming, shifty, skulking, slinking, sly, stealthy, sub-rosa, surreptitious, tricky*, under wraps, under-the-table, undercover, underhand, underhanded, wily
Antonyms: aboveboard, forthright, honest, open, truthful
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