wily

From Middle English wily, wiley, wyly. By surface analysis, wil(e) +‎ -y.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪ.li/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪli
• Homophones: Wiley, Wylie, Wylye
• Hyphenation: wi‧ly

wily (comparative wilier or more wily, superlative wiliest or most wily)

1. Sly, cunning, full of tricks.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:wily

   Horatio's new girlfriend is a wily coquette, and poor Horatio is too smitten to see it.

   • 1996 October 6, William Hathaway, “PARASITE LINKS MEN IN DARING VENTURE”, in Hartford Courant‎^[1], archived from the original on 28 November 2020:

     Of all the medical monsters Peter Hotez could have set out to slay, the Yale University researcher could not have chosen a more wily and obscure villain than the hookworm.

• wilily
• wiliness
• wily beguily