slyness and cunning in dealing with others
Origin of guile
Middle English gile from Old French guile from Frankish an unverified form wigila, guile, akin to Old English wigle: see wile
noun
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.
YourDictionary definition and usage example. Copyright © 2018 by LoveToKnow Corp
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"guile." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Guile>.
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guile. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Guile
guile
Webster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"guile." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Guile>.
APA Style
guile. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Guile
guile
noun
- Treacherous cunning; skillful deceit.
- A trick or stratagem.
transitive verb
guiled, guil·ing, guiles ArchaicTo beguile; deceive.
Origin of guile
Middle English from Old French of Germanic origin Old English wigle divination, sorceryTHE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"guile." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Guile>.
APA Style
guile. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Guile
Noun
(countable and uncountable, plural guiles)
- (uncountable) Astuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.
- Deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty.
Verb
(third-person singular simple present guiles, present participle guiling, simple past and past participle guiled)
Origin
From Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”) , from Frankish *wigila (“ruse”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"guile." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Guile>.
APA Style
guile. (n.d.). Retrieved January 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/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.
- Furthermore, the realignment of the Blackadder character to a figure of cunning guile was also a decision made by Elton.
- This year's budget is $17 million and the student cohort will be $15,000 - a growth achieved through graft and a little guile.
- There is no doubt that Mrs. Ramotswe is a novice; but, she uses her feminine guile to get to the heart of the matter.
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