🦊 Guile: A Short but Dangerous Word
GUILE most nearly means: A) candor; B) valor; C) malaise; D) cunning. Answer inside. 👉️
Guile is the quality of using clever, deceptive cunning, for example, like how a scammer might convince a grandmother that she absolutely must send gift card codes to “protect” her retirement fund.
📚️ Definition of Guile
Guile (noun): Sly or cunning intelligence; the use of clever and sometimes deceitful tactics to achieve a goal, often through trickery rather than force. Example: crypto scammers operating with incredible levels of guile.
🗣️ Pronunciation of Guile
IPA: /ɡaɪl/ (See IPA key)
Respelling: GYLE
📰 Examples of Guile
Here are some examples of the word guile:
We went into the timeshare sales presentation prepared for high-pressure appeals to sign away our life savings, but in the end, it was the presenter’s guile that almost got us.
In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus is known for his guile. One of the best examples of this guile is his escape from the giant Cyclops Polyphemus, in which he told Polyphemus that his name was “Nobody,” so when the other Cyclopes ask Polyphemus who is attacking him, Polyphemus bellows that “Nobody is attacking him.” And his fellow Cyclopes don’t bother to come to help!
“It is by guile, not by strength, that the cunning fox outwits the stronger hound.” — Inspired by Aesop’s Fables
Quiz answer: D, cunning.