How to Use wily in a Sentence

wily

adjective
Definition of wilynext
Synonyms for wilynext
  • She turned out to be a wily negotiator.
  • This coyote wasn't wily enough to go against Kevin the cat.
    — Kelli Bender, PEOPLE.com, 29 Oct. 2021
  • For those, Smokey, a wily teenager with a mean side-eye, is the horse of choice.
    — Michelle L. Quinn, chicagotribune.com, 9 Aug. 2021
  • This wily Welshman clearly knew where the back of the net was.
    — SI.com, 19 June 2019
  • The piece is ready ahead of schedule, and Cox is chuffed with his wily scheme.
    — Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 28 June 2021
  • But wily coach Floyd Burnsed knows how to get the best out of his players.
    — Joseph Dycus, The Mercury News, 16 Aug. 2024
  • The wily kid will not defeat the monster with the aid of magic.
    — Sasha Dovzhyk, CNN, 14 Dec. 2022
  • Los Caneleros do have a wily coach who has been around the block before.
    — SI.com, 5 June 2018
  • And some in the crotch area because things can get a little wily.
    — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 2 May 2024
  • But in the second part, that wily and evasive Durst is gone.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Apr. 2024
  • There’s a gangster named Saint Joe (played by the wily Daniel Wu, who the movie could have used more of).
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 18 Aug. 2021
  • Enjoy today’s mix of the weird, the wild, and the wily, courtesy of Forbes AI Investor.
    — Q.ai - Investing Reimagined, Forbes, 12 May 2021
  • In the bottom of the fifth, after the snow stopped, the Cougars’ wiry center-fielder came to the plate to face the wily Zito.
    — Peter King, SI.com, 13 Feb. 2018
  • Now that prices for the fruit are soaring, restaurants have found wily ways to cut costs.
    — Lila MacLellan, Quartzy, 3 Aug. 2019
  • The closest to a Brucey B, a wily vet who can also finish big games for you on the floor.
    — Sean Keeler, The Denver Post, 8 Apr. 2024
  • But the zebras have proved to be a wily bunch, foiling the effort week after week.
    — The New York Times, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2021
  • When the plague descends on the island, the wily cook rouses his fellow staff to rebel and take over the mansion.
    — Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 9 July 2024
  • And that was Bill to a tee: wily, cunning, self-effacing.
    — Neil Genzlinger, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2020
  • The liver, so damaged at that point, hadn’t been able to flush the wily critter from her system.
    — Elizabeth Millard, SELF, 2 Nov. 2017
  • Some likened it to a wrestling-style maneuver by the wily Ramos, who appeared to pin Salah’s right arm and roll the forward down to the turf.
    — Steve Douglas, ajc, 25 May 2022
  • Spain won the World Cup in 2010 and is full of wily tournament veterans that know how to win.
    — Alex Ward, Vox, 12 June 2018
  • Jonathan Smoots will play the wily and eccentric Captain Shotover.
    — Mike Fischer, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 26 Oct. 2017
  • Bill Belichick, the wily coach, And gorgeous baby Hazel Roche!
    — Ian Frazier, The New Yorker, 19 Dec. 2022
  • Word of the miraculous birth reaches the wily tetrarch Herod.
    — Keith Christiansen, WSJ, 23 Dec. 2022
  • While Henne played the role of wily veteran, the first-year phenom Herbert more than matched him.
    — oregonlive, 3 Jan. 2021
  • Loyal; wily; moody; sweet; and, in the case of Rocket, an animal.
    — Kelly Conaboy, The Cut, 30 Apr. 2018
  • Only time will tell, although that wily Ethan Zohn is off to a pretty good start.
    — Dalton Ross, EW.com, 23 Jan. 2020
  • Maybe Kim Jong Un is really wily, and this whole missile thing is just sleight of hand.
    — Kevin Maney, Newsweek, 20 May 2017
  • Will this fresh prey – two wily, resourceful Zoomers – prove harder for the ageing predator to consume?
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 30 Aug. 2024
  • Goldman is like a wily, self-justifying Philip Roth invention that asserts a new kind of J’accuse by shaming the court and invoking the pressure of Jewish history.
    — Armond White, National Review, 6 Sep. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wily.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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