wiles
Bag of ruses
Wiles are clever tricks or stratagems used to manipulate or deceive someone, typically to get what you want.
The word carries connotations of cunning and slyness, often with a playful or seductive edge: She used her wiles to charm the doorman into letting her in.
Unlike outright deception, wiles suggest artful persuasion—the kind of maneuvering that's more crafty than malicious.
The singular wile exists but is rarely encountered outside the phrase wile away, meaning to pass time idly.
Deliberate deception or fraud
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- ruseDeliberate act of deception
- ployCalculated deceptive tactic
feint · stratagem · duplicity · artifice · chicanery · bamboozle · con · hoax
Sly, strategic dishonesty
- slyCleverly deceptive
- craftyCleverly deceptive
- artfulCleverly deceptive
- shrewdPractically clever, perceptive
astute · canny · scheming · calculating · manipulative · subtle · clever · foxy
Attractive, tempting quality
- flirtationPlayful romantic attention
- charmAttractive personal quality
- enchantmentMagical influence over someone
- enticementSomething that attracts
coquetry · temptation · beguiling · captivation · siren · femme fatale · bewitching · tantalizing
trickery
Deliberate deception or fraud
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- ruseDeliberate act of deception
ploy · feint · stratagem · duplicity · artifice · chicanery · bamboozle · con · hoax · sham
guile
Sly, strategic dishonesty
shrewd · astute · canny · scheming · calculating · manipulative · subtle · clever · foxy · slippery
allure
Attractive, tempting quality
- flirtationPlayful romantic attention
- charmAttractive personal quality
- enchantmentMagical influence over someone
enticement · coquetry · temptation · beguiling · captivation · siren · femme fatale · bewitching · tantalizing · irresistible
- deceptionlie, lies, lying, fake, fraud
- cunningcunning, craftiness, crafty, guile, slyness
- enticementsenticement, inducement, lure, allure, temptation
- seductionseduction, seductive, allure, beguilement, enticement
- wilesguile, cunning, craftiness, slyness, trickery
- deceptionslie, lies, lying, deceit, decoy
wileshonesty
Truthfulness, sincerity
candor · truthfulness · sincerity · forthrightness · integrity
wilesdirectness
Quality of being straightforward
frankness · straightforwardness · bluntness · plain dealing · forthrightness
wilesguilelessness
Absence of cunning
naivety · innocence · ingenuousness · artlessness · simplicity
- Wile E. Coyote
- wile awaySpend time aimlessly
- Wile E Coyote
- wily foxCunning, deceitful animal