different between careful vs cunning
careful
English
Alternative forms
- carefull (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English careful, from Old English carful; equivalent to care +? -ful.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /?k??f?l/
- (US) IPA(key): /?k?(?)?f?l/
Adjective
careful (comparative more careful, superlative most careful)
- Taking care; attentive to potential danger, error or harm; cautious.
- Conscientious and painstaking; meticulous.
- (obsolete) Full of care or grief; sorrowful, sad.
- (obsolete) Full of cares or anxiety; worried, troubled.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:
- Where through long watch, and late daies weary toile, / She soundly slept, and carefull thoughts did quite assoile.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.1:
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:cautious
- See also Thesaurus:meticulous
Antonyms
- careless
Derived terms
- carefully
- carefulness
Translations
Anagrams
- acreful
careful From the web:
- what carefully means
- what carefulness it wrought in you
- what's careful in sign language
- what's careful in french
- what careful planning
- what careful synonym
- what careful reading
- what's careful in asl
cunning
English
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -?n??
- IPA(key): /?k?n??/
Etymology 1
From Middle English cunning, kunning, konnyng, alteration of earlier Middle English cunninde, kunnende, cunnand, from Old English cunnende, present participle of cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”), equivalent to con +? -ing. Cognate with Scots cunnand (“cunning”), German könnend (“able to do”), Icelandic kunnandi (“cunning”). More at con, can.
Adjective
cunning (comparative more cunning, superlative most cunning)
- Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.
- They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.
- (obsolete) Skillful, artful.
- Esau was a cunning hunter.
- a cunning workman
- (obsolete) Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious.
- cunning work
- (US, colloquial, dated, New England) Cute, appealing.
- a cunning little boy
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:wily
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English cunning, kunnyng, partially from Old English *cunning (verbal noun), from Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”); partially from Old English cunnung (“knowledge, trial, probation, experience, contact, carnal knowledge”), from cunnian (“to search into, try, test, seek for, explore, investigate, experience, have experience of, to make trial of, know”), equivalent to con +? -ing.
Noun
cunning (countable and uncountable, plural cunnings)
- Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity.
- 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 236d.
- indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.
- 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 236d.
- Practical skill employed in a secret or crafty manner; craft; artifice; skillful deceit; art or magic.
- c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii[1]:
- Caliban: As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.
- c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii[1]:
- The disposition to employ one's skill in an artful manner; craftiness; guile; artifice; skill of being cunning, sly, conniving, or deceitful.
- The natural wit or instincts of an animal.
- the cunning of the fox or hare
- (obsolete) Knowledge; learning; special knowledge (sometimes implying occult or magical knowledge).
Synonyms
- craftiness
- foxship
- list
Translations
cunning From the web:
- what cunning means
- what cunning plan backfires for nicholas
- what's cunning linguist
- what's cunning man
- cunningham meaning
- what's cunning in german
- what cunningly devised fables
- cunningness meaning
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