Sleight

//slaɪt// name, noun

name, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Cunning; craft; artful practice. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    adroitness in using the hands wordnet
  3. 3
    An artful trick; sly artifice; a feat so dexterous that the manner of performance escapes observation. countable

    "If men have so many sleights to compass their matters, how can the compasser himself hold his fingers?"

  4. 4
    Dexterous practice; dexterity; skill. countable, uncountable
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
dexterityaddressadroitadroitnessartartful dodge

Example

More examples

"He tried to conceal his ineptitude in a not-so-deft sleight of hand."

Etymology

From Middle English sleighte, sleyght, sleythe, from Old Norse slœgð (“cunning”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiþō, from *slōgiz (“cunning”) (whence English sly). Doublet of sly and slöjd/sloyd.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.