Adjective
a canny card player, good at psyching out his opponents
warm and canny under the woolen bedcovers, we didn't mind the chilly Scottish nights
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Adjective
And somewhere out there, a canny Amazon/MGM awards strategist is probably cooking up a plan to convince the Golden Globes to let this compete as a musical/comedy.—Joe Reid, Vulture, 10 Sep. 2024 The app seems cannier than other platforms in funneling comedy videos to receptive viewers.—Sapna Maheshwari, New York Times, 22 Oct. 2024 Anthropic’s Claude had that very morning given me canny insight into a personal matter.—Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 17 Oct. 2024 Against that backdrop, Harris’s first economic promise—exempting tips from taxation—was canny.—Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for canny
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
originally Scots & regional northern English, going back to early Scots, "free from risk, sagacious, prudent, cautious," probably from can "ability" (noun derivative of cancan entry 1) + -y-y entry 1
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