sleight of hand
Prestidigitator's core talent
Sleight of hand is skillful, deceptive hand movement—the technique magicians use to make objects appear, disappear, or transform without observers noticing how: The card trick was pure sleight of hand.
By extension, any clever manipulation that conceals what's really happening: The accounting was financial sleight of hand.
Skillful hand-based illusions
- conjuringPerforming magical illusions
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- legerdemainSkillful hand-based deception
- close-up magicIllusions performed nearby
card trick · coin trick · vanish · appear · switch · transformation · Houdini · cups and balls
Ease of quick movement
- finesseSubtle, deft handling
- agilityQuickness and ease
- precisionAccuracy of measurement
- manipulationUnderhanded control of others
adeptness · deftness · finger work · palming · flourish · coin roll · pass · thumb tip
prestidigitation
Skillful hand-based illusions
- conjuringPerforming magical illusions
- illusionMisleading sensory impression
- legerdemainSkillful hand-based deception
close-up magic · card trick · coin trick · vanish · appear · switch · transformation · Houdini · cups and balls · linking rings
nimbleness
Ease of quick movement
manipulation · adeptness · deftness · finger work · palming · flourish · coin roll · pass · thumb tip · light-fingered
misdirection
Intentional focus manipulation
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- trickeryDeliberate deception or fraud
- conArgument against
swindle · chicanery · guile · deceit · artifice · dupery · ruse · distraction · feint · diversion
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- dexteritydexterous, nimble, agile, adroit, deft
- dexterity skillsjuggling, balancing, stacking cups, cup stacking, card shuffling
- illusionsmirage, optical illusion, hallucination, illusion, afterimage
- manual skillsjuggling, carving, weaving, threading, stitching
- party trickscard tricks, card trick, magic trick, magic tricks, spoon bending
sleight of handtransparency
State of being see-through
full disclosure · candor · openness · honesty · plain dealing
sleight of handclumsiness
Lack of physical grace
ham-fistedness · fumbling · awkwardness · gracelessness · heavy-handedness
hand, handle, handy, hands, handful, handled, handling, sleight, handiness