crafty
clever at achieving goals through indirect or deceptive means; cunning
Word origin: From Old English cræft, skill or power.
Crafty in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing crafty in a sentence.
The crafty diplomat maneuvered all parties into an agreement that none had anticipated entering.
The novel's crafty villain manipulates every other character without once revealing his true intentions.
Using “crafty” well
Crafty carries a negative tone, implying cleverness used for deception, unlike the neutral word skillful. It pairs with cunning and wily.
More GRE words starting with C
a small secret group plotting against a government or authority
having a hidden or mysterious meaning understood only by initiates
a harsh, jarring mixture of sounds
to obtain something by begging or sponging off others
falling off or shed at an early stage, especially of plant parts
to coax someone into doing something through flattery or persuasion
an event causing great damage, loss, or distress
misty, dim, or dark, and therefore obscure
Questions about “crafty”
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.