sleight
Americannoun
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skill; dexterity.
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an artifice; stratagem.
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cunning; craft.
noun
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skill; dexterity See also sleight of hand
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a trick or stratagem
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cunning; trickery
Usage
What does sleight mean? Sleight means skill, especially with one’s hands (dexterity).It can also mean trickery or cunning, or a specific trick or scheme.Sleight is by far most commonly used in the phrase sleight of hand, whose meanings are very similar to those of sleight: manual dexterity, general trickery, or a trick performed with quick and skillful hand movements.Sleight and sleight of hand are especially associated with coin and card tricks that require such hand movements. They’re also associated with deceptive ways of stealing, such as pickpocketing.Sleight should not be confused with the word slight, which has the same pronunciation. As an adjective, slight means small or insignificant. As a noun, it commonly means the act of treating someone with indifference or snubbing them.Example: The illusionist spent years perfecting his sleight so that it was undetectable even at close range.
Etymology
Origin of sleight
1225–75; Middle English; early Middle English slēgth < Old Norse slǣgth. See sly, -th 1
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.
This sleight of hand directly undermines the intended safeguards in federal law.
From MarketWatch • Feb. 12, 2026
For years, the company pulled off this bizarre sleight of hand—effectively acting as a middleman that buys Bitcoin for you so your stock in the company is worth less than Bitcoin.
From Slate • Feb. 3, 2026
The dialogue is naturally digressive, sliding in just as much exposition as needed with a magician’s sleight of hand.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2025
It's almost like a magician, sleight of hand.
From BBC • Dec. 14, 2024
He’d learned sleight of hand from the cardsharps and monte runners on East Stave, and spent hours practicing it in front of a muddy mirror he’d bought with his first week’s pay.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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.