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Guile definition

gīl
guiles
See word origin
Frequency:
Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.
noun
42
3
To beguile; deceive.
verb
33
4
A trick or stratagem.
noun
27
5
Slyness and cunning in dealing with others.
noun
13
2
noun
2
0
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verb
2
0
The definition of guile is slyness shown in a charming way.

An example of guile is when you distract your friend from the fact that you are half hour late to a meeting by immediately turning on the charm and launching into a fascinating story.

noun
3
2
(uncountable) Astuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.
noun
1
0

Origin of guile

  • Middle English from Old French of Germanic origin Old English wigle divination, sorcery

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • From Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”), from Frankish *wigila (“ruse”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.

    From Wiktionary

Guile Sentence Examples

  • You might have to use considerable guile to find out what's going on.

  • The Picts used a bit of tactical guile and lured the Northumbrians into a trap with deadly results.

  • This year's budget is $17 million and the student cohort will be $15,000 - a growth achieved through graft and a little guile.

  • The incident, whether due to chance or guile, brought about the resignation of Crispi.

  • Her reputation for honesty and directness, which is not false, masks an apparently artless guile.

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