| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | smooth, slick |
| Synonyms: | glacé, glassy, glazed, glistening, greasy, icy, like a skating rink, lubricious, lustrous, perilous, polished, satiny, silky, sleek, slimy, soapy, unctuous, unsafe, unstable, unsteady, waxy, wet |
| Antonyms: | dry, unslippery |
| Main Entry: | canny |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | clever, artful |
| Synonyms: | able, acute, adroit, astute, cagey, careful, cautious, circumspect, cunning, dexterous, discreet, foxy*, frugal, having fancy footwork, hep, ingenious, intelligent, judicious, knowing, nimble-witted, perspicacious, prudent, quick, quick-witted, sagacious, shrewd, skillful, slick, slippery*, sly, smart, smooth*, street smart, streetwise, subtle, wary, watchful, wise, with it, worldly-wise |
| Antonyms: | foolish, inept, silly |
| Main Entry: | crafty |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | clever, scheming |
| Synonyms: | adroit, artful, astute, cagey, calculating, canny, crazy like fox, cunning, deceitful, deep, designing, devious, disingenuous, duplicitous, foxy*, fraudulent, guileful, insidious, intelligent, keen, knowing, sharp, shrewd, slick, slippery*, sly, smart, smooth, street smart, streetwise, subtle, tricky, vulpine, wily |
| Antonyms: | honest, naive, unclever |
| 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: | 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: | dishonest |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | lying, untruthful |
| Synonyms: | backbiting, bent, bluffing, cheating, corrupt, crafty, crooked, cunning, deceitful, deceiving, deceptive, designing, disreputable, double-crossing, double-dealing, elusive, false, fraudulent, guileful, hoodwinking, mendacious, misleading, perfidious, recreant, shady, shifty, sinister, slippery*, sneaking, sneaky, swindling, traitorous, treacherous, tricky, two-faced, two-timing, unctuous, underhanded, unfair, unprincipled, unscrupulous, untrustworthy, villainous, wily |
| Antonyms: | aboveboard, ethical, fair, frank, honest, moral, open, principled, scrupulous, trustworthy, truthful |
| Main Entry: | elusive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | evasive, mysterious |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, baffling, cagey, deceitful, deceptive, difficult to catch, elusory, equivocal, evanescent, fallacious, fleeting, fraudulent, fugacious, fugitive, greasy, illusory, imponderable, incomprehensible, indefinable, insubstantial, intangible, misleading, occult, phantom, puzzling, shifty, shy, slippery, stonewalling, subtle, transient, transitory, tricky, unspecific, volatile |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge illusory means based on or having the nature of an illusion; elusive means difficult to describe or skillful at eluding capture |
| Antonyms: | attracting, confronting, encountering, enticing, facing, inviting |
| Main Entry: | evasive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | deceitful, tricky |
| Synonyms: | ambiguous, cagey, casuistic, casuistical, cunning, deceptive, devious, dissembling, elusive, elusory, equivocating, false, fugitive, greasy, indirect, intangible, lying, misleading, oblique, prevaricating, shifty, shuffling, slippery, sly, sophistical, stonewalling, unclear, vague |
| Notes: | elusive is used when what is being avoided is physical capture or apprehension, whereas evasive is used when what is being avoided is direct or relevant response to a verbal challenge |
| Antonyms: | direct, forthright, honest, ready, straight, straightforward |
| Main Entry: | fly-by-night |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | unreliable and shady |
| Synonyms: | brief, cowboy, disreputable, dubious, ephemeral, evanescent, fleeting, here-today-gone-tomorrow, impermanent, irresponsible, momentary, not to be relied upon, not to be trusted, passing, questionable, shady, shifty, short-lived, slimy*, slippery*, temporary, treacherous, trustless, undependable, unprofessional, unreliable, unsure, untrustworthy |
| Antonyms: | dependable, reliable, reputable, responsible, trustworthy |