Cunning
Cunning noun - The inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery.
Usage example: used cunning and subterfuge to work her way up the corporate ladder
Deception is a synonym for cunning in deceit topic. In some cases you can use "Deception" instead a noun "Cunning", when it comes to topics like artifice, honest, fraud, guile.
Nearby Word: cunningly
Deception
Deception noun - The inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery.
Usage example: a telemarketing company with a reputation for deception
Cunning is a synonym for deception in deceit topic. You can use "Cunning" instead a noun "Deception", if it concerns topics such as character trait, artifice, honest, misleading.
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- artifice and cunning
- artifice and deception
- cheating and cunning
- cheating and deception
- double-dealing and cunning
- double-dealing and deception
- lying and cunning
- lying and deception
- craft and cunning
- craft and deception
- fraud and cunning
- fraud and deception
- dishonesty and cunning
- dishonesty and deception
How words are described
Both words in one sentence
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Instead, they use cunning and deception to deal with potential enemies, such as Vaughn moonlighting as a bandit boss and pretending to have snipers when all he had were people with laser pointers.
- The Big Bad of the Chronicles of Prydain, Arawn the Death Lord, is such a master of deception and cunning among the people of Prydain that he is feared by all despite being spectacularly weak.
- Odin, god of trickery, deception and cunning, compensated for his sacrificed eye by sending his ravens Huginn ("thought") and Muninn ("memory") into the world to spy for him.
Source: The Spymaster
Cite this Source
Deception and Cunning. (2016). Retrieved 2026, August 16, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/cunning/deception
Cunning & Deception. N.p., 2016. Web. 16 Aug. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/cunning/deception>.
Deception or Cunning. 2016. Accessed August 16, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/cunning/deception.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "cunning" and "deception" have occurred on timeline