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# sly

«sly» in Mova's school dictionary: **clever in a sneaky way, good at tricking people and…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (sly, slyer, slyest — also slier, sliest); adverb slyly; noun slyness; phrase «on the sly»

### meaning for a pupil

1) Sly means clever in a sneaky way, good at tricking people and hiding what you really plan. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#m1)

2) A sly smile, look or wink shows that someone knows a secret or a joke that others do not. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#m2)

3) «On the sly» means secretly, so that others do not notice. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

Common in fables and fairy tales: the sly fox, the sly wolf; it warns the reader that a character is planning a trick. In everyday life and safety lessons it helps children spot people who try to trick them. Phrases: a sly fox, a sly grin, a sly look, on the sly.

### examples

- The sly fox tricked the crow into dropping its cheese. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#x1)
- Be careful: a sly person may pretend to be your friend to get something. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#x2)
- Tom gave me a sly wink when the teacher wasn't looking. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#x3)
- She had a sly smile, so I knew she had hidden my shoes. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#x4)
- He was eating sweets on the sly during the film. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#x5)
- The sly cat waited quietly until the bird came close. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#x6)
- "No need to search any farther," thought sly Master Fox. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/#x7)

### note

Both «slyer/slyest» and «slier/sliest» are correct. «Sly» is usually negative (tricky, not honest), but a «sly smile» can be friendly and playful. Do not mix up with «shy» (nervous with people), which is a different word.

### In the corpora

- [In many stories foxes are sly tricksters, because real foxes are clever and adaptable, eat almost anything and learn quickly.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/215-foxes-and-squirrels/7/)
- ["Has a nice personality" is often a sly way to say someone is not attractive.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/9-age-looks-and-size/17/)
- ["lysYtsya" means fox; the sly fox "Lys Mykyta" is a famous Ukrainian tale character.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/22-farm-forest-animals-and-pets/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «sly» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/sly/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.