different between cunning vs sharp
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
sharp
English
Etymology
From Middle English scharp, from Old English s?earp, from Proto-Germanic *skarpaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kerb-. Cognate with West Frisian skerp, Low German scharp, Dutch scherp, German scharf, Danish skarp. Compare Irish cearb (“keen; cutting”), Latin acerbus (“tart, bitter”), Tocharian B kärpye (“rough”), Latvian skârbs (“sharp, rough”), Russian ????? (š?erba, “notch”), Polish szczerba (“gap, dent, jag, chip, nick, notch”), Albanian harb (“rudeness”), from *(s)ker- (“to cut”). More at shear.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /???p/
- (General American) IPA(key): /???p/
- Rhymes: -??(?)p
Adjective
sharp (comparative sharper, superlative sharpest)
- Terminating in a point or edge, especially one that can cut easily; not obtuse or rounded.
- (colloquial) Intelligent.
- (music) Higher than usual by one semitone (denoted by the symbol ? after the name of the note).
- (music) Higher in pitch than required.
- Having an intense, acrid flavour.
- Sudden and intense.
- She wakened in sharp panic, bewildered by the grotesquerie of some half-remembered dream in contrast with the harshness of inclement fact.
- (colloquial) Illegal or dishonest.
- (colloquial) Keenly or unduly attentive to one's own interests; shrewd.
- Exact, precise, accurate; keen.
- Offensive, critical, or acrimonious.
- (colloquial) Stylish or attractive.
- Observant; alert; acute.
- Forming a small angle; especially, forming an angle of less than ninety degrees.
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
- The street down which Warwick had come intersected Front Street at a sharp angle in front of the old hotel, forming a sort of flatiron block at the junction, known as Liberty Point
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
- Steep; precipitous; abrupt.
- (mathematics, of a statement) Said of as extreme a value as possible.
- (chess) Tactical; risky.
- 1963, Max Euwe, Chess Master Vs. Chess Amateur (page xviii)
- Time and time again, the amateur player has lost the opportunity to make the really best move because he felt bound to follow some chess "rule" he had learned, rather than to make the sharp move which was indicated by the position.
- 1975, Lud?k Pachman, Decisive Games in Chess History (page 64)
- In such situations most chess players choose the obvious and logical way: they go in for sharp play. However, not everyone is a natural attacking player […]
- 1963, Max Euwe, Chess Master Vs. Chess Amateur (page xviii)
- Piercing; keen; severe; painful.
- Eager or keen in pursuit; impatient for gratification.
- (obsolete) Fierce; ardent; fiery; violent; impetuous.
- Composed of hard, angular grains; gritty.
- (phonetics, dated) Uttered in a whisper, or with the breath alone; aspirated; unvoiced.
- (obsolete) Hungry.
- 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.1:
- “[W]hy this last week we ha'n't had nothing at all but some dry musty red herrings; so you may think, Miss, we're kept pretty sharp!”
- 1782, Frances Burney, Cecilia, II.iii.1:
Synonyms
- (able to cut easily): keen, razor, razor-sharp
- (intelligent): brainy, bright, intelligent, keen, smart, witty
- (able to pierce easily): pointed
- (having an intense and acrid flavour): acrid, pungent
- (sudden and intense): abrupt, acute, stabbing
- (illegal, dishonest): dishonest, dodgy, illegal, illicit, underhand
- (accurate): accurate, exact, keen, precise
- (critical): acrimonious, bitter, cutting, harsh, hostile, nasty
- (stylish, attractive): chic, elegant, smart, stylish
- (observant): acute, alert, keen, observant, sharp-eyed
Antonyms
- (able to cut easily): blunt, dull
- (intelligent): dim, dim-witted, slow, slow-witted, thick
- (able to pierce easily): blunt
- (higher than usual by one semitone): flat
- (music: higher in pitch than required): flat
- (having an intense and acrid flavour): bland, insipid, tasteless
- (sudden and intense): dull
- (illegal, dishonest): above-board, honest, legit, legitimate, reputable
- (accurate): inaccurate, imprecise
- (critical): complimentary, flattering, friendly, kind, nice
- (stylish, attractive): inelegant, scruffy, shabby
- (observant): unobservant
Derived terms
Translations
Adverb
sharp (comparative sharper, superlative sharpest)
- To a point or edge; piercingly; eagerly; sharply.
- 1853, Matthew Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum
- The iron plates rang sharp, but turn'd the spear
- 1853, Matthew Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum
- (not comparable) Exactly.
- (music) In a higher pitch than is correct or desirable.
Synonyms
- (exactly): exactly, on the dot (of time), precisely; see also Thesaurus:exactly
Translations
Noun
sharp (plural sharps)
- (music) The symbol ?, placed after the name of a note in the key signature or before a note on the staff to indicate that the note is to be played a semitone higher.
- (music) A note that is played a semitone higher than usual; denoted by the name of the note that is followed by the symbol ?.
- (music) A note that is sharp in a particular key.
- (music) The scale having a particular sharp note as its tonic.
- (usually in the plural) Something that is sharp.
- (medicine) A hypodermic syringe.
- (medicine, dated) A scalpel or other edged instrument used in surgery.
- A sharp tool or weapon.
- c. 1700 Jeremy Collier, On Duelling
- If butchers had but the manners to go to sharps, gentlemen would be contented with a rubber at cuffs.
- A dishonest person; a cheater.
- This usage is often classified as variant spelling of shark, and unrelated to the 'pointed' or 'cutting' meanings of sharp.
- Part of a stream where the water runs very rapidly.
- 1858, Charles Kingsley, "Chalk Stream Studies", in Fraser's Magazine
- here are good fish to be picked out of sharps and stop-holes into the water-tables
- 1858, Charles Kingsley, "Chalk Stream Studies", in Fraser's Magazine
- A sewing needle with a very slender point, more pointed than a blunt or a between.
- (in the plural) Fine particles of husk mixed with coarse particle of flour of cereals; middlings.
- 1954, Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead, Dorothy 2010, p. 21:
- While he worked he talked to his ducks, who were waddling about hopefully, as it was almost time for the red bucket to be filled with sharps and potato-peelings.
- 1954, Barbara Comyns, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead, Dorothy 2010, p. 21:
- (slang, dated) An expert.
- A sharpie (member of Australian gangs of the 1960s and 1970s).
Derived terms
- cardsharp, card sharp
- double sharp
Translations
See also
- (music) accidental, flat, natural
- ?
Verb
sharp (third-person singular simple present sharps, present participle sharping, simple past and past participle sharped)
- (music) To raise the pitch of a note half a step making a natural note a sharp.
- To play tricks in bargaining; to act the sharper.
- (transitive, obsolete) To sharpen.
Translations
References
- sharp at OneLook Dictionary Search
- sharp in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
Anagrams
- Spahr, harps, shrap
sharp From the web:
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- what sharps are in d major
- what sharpens iron
- what sharps are in e major
- what sharps are in g major
- what sharps are in b major
- what sharpens a knife
- what sharpness setting for monitor
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