wily
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.
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While Karadzic was the ideologue and Milosevic the wily politician, Mladic was the soldier and his metier was waging war.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
The wily, frizzy-haired Frenchman with red-framed spectacles taught Zucker everything he knows about clowning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Schuyler emerges as a born leader and wily diplomat with a rare gift for straddling different cultures.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
Quantum particles, it turns out, are just as wily as Odysseus, as we have shown in an experiment published in Physical Review Letters.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
How I recognized the wily grin on Fat Frankie’s face, at the moment when he knew he’d hustled me but good.
From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz
Factories are now able to supply better quality masks to meet the challenge of wilier new variants, but the communal work continues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 17, 2023
I hadn’t heard any of the songs which, people said, were wilier and more mischievous than the straighter, soapier, we’re-in-love-now ballads that defined Disney movies past.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 9, 2019
It’s easy to imagine a wilier or more strategic leader, or even a better politician, in that role.
From Slate ● Aug. 10, 2018
But he is wilier than that, curious and surprisingly puckish.
From New York Times ● Feb. 27, 2017
So far, the fish had proved wilier than they’d imagined.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
In Iran, the president faces some of his wiliest and most implacable opponents.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 16, 2026
The wiliest or greediest adult children have their eye on the main prize: real estate.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025
Until the events of last Friday, Mr Rutte was seen as one of the wiliest survivors in European politics, even earning the nickname of "Teflon Mark".
From BBC ● Jul. 10, 2023
Porzingis, the wiliest on the team at drawing fouls, got to the free throw line with 4:40 to play and his team down seven.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 2, 2022
Now shrugging off his rags the wiliest fighter of the islands I leapt and stood on the broad door sill, his own bow in his hand.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Vocabulary lists containing wily
300 Most Difficult "SAT" Words
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List 7
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The Watsons Go to Birmingham
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