noun
-
clever or crafty character or behaviour
Related Words
See duplicity.
Other Word Forms
- guileful adjective
- guilefully adverb
- guilefulness noun
Etymology
Origin of guile
1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Germanic; akin to wile
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Howe's side have often lacked the guile to find a way through a low block, which then feeds into their main issue on the road - a lack of goals.
From BBC • Jan. 28, 2026
Like Julien Duvivier and François Truffaut before him, Kiarostami captures their innocence and guile with righteous force.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 27, 2025
Harmer outdid the Indian spinners in their own den with his guile and turn.
From Barron's • Nov. 26, 2025
A winning combination of discipline and guile from the spinners put Bangladesh in a great position as, for the third time in four World Cup matches, South Africa's top-order crumbled.
From BBC • Oct. 13, 2025
She’d say this for him: He had no guile.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.