If someone asks, "Sly - which one?" - no one will be surprised, for the language is changing. Old words do not say that they are dying, but are moved to the language archive. They are being replaced by others. But sometimes people for various reasons still need to know the meaning of some. Today we’ll talk about the "crafty one." We give examples, talk about synonyms.
Meaning
To begin with, if a person uses this word in its direct meaning, then it does not carry anything good in itself. Sly is:
- Unkind.
- He who lies and deceives.
- Dishonest.
- Sly, with a pebble in his bosom.
- Treacherous.
- Unholy.
But when it comes to figurative meaning. For example, a girl looks at a guy crafty. This does not mean at all that she is deceiving him, cunning with him, or, if we take it higher, she is unfaithful to him. No, absolutely not. When a girl looks at a guy slyly, on the contrary, this is a good sign, because such a look indicates a woman's interest.
And in this context, the adjective “crafty” is playful.
But cunning in a good figurative meaning can accompany the relationship not only of lovers, but also of parents and children. When, for example, a child wants to surprise mom or dad and he lacks composure to hide his intention. His eyes (which, as you know, are the mirror of the soul) sparkle when he thinks about how his parents will be delighted to receive a gift. Eyes shine crafty. It’s impossible to say more precisely.
Synonyms and context
Replacing words that might take the place of the “evil one” in a sentence appeared before the reader's eyes when it came to meaning. True, you can add something else to them:
- A two-faced or two-faced person is called crafty.
- Canny.
One caveat: Strictly follow the style of the spoken or written language. Because the adjective “crafty” is not a word that can be used always and everywhere. In truth, the "crafty" in the direct sense is slightly outdated, and if you can replace the adjective with a more modern analogue, then do not think twice when making a decision. Because if a person’s speech is absurd, then at the junction of stylistics - modern and outdated - a comic effect may occur.
And it’s not scary if a person consciously decided to make a linguistic joke, and what if such a game of meanings appeared by chance and was extremely inappropriate? To avoid such a problem, there is a proven tool - use only those words whose meaning is well known to the person. It’s not so difficult to understand the adjective “crafty”. The synonyms replacing it are also not a secret.
Sly - another name for the devil or evil spirit
This is not surprising, because in the list of meanings of the word "crafty" is "unholy." The latter rarely refers to man, rather, to the spirit or being of another, non-human nature. True, sometimes they also say about a sinful person: “Wicked!” But it’s hard for us to imagine that an atheist says so. First of all, the imagination depicts the image of a priest, or a monk, or a vehement believer.
Phraseologism "from the evil one"
It is impossible to consider the meaning of the word “crafty” and not to say a single word about phraseological unit, which is directly connected with it. The analyzed adjective is interlinked in the popular consciousness not only with evil, but also with complexity and ornate. Most people generally don’t really like complexity because they don’t understand it. True, it also happens that in the heat of an argument a person resorts to very weak arguments. And they say to him: “This is from the evil one,” that is, there is no content behind these arguments. They are solely aimed at confusing and embarrassing the interlocutor. What, in fact, the devil did in his time.
The Bible initially insists that a person give only monosyllabic answers to any question: either negative or positive. And a person should never swear by anything. If this happens, then the devil definitely plays with a man or a woman, leads them into temptation and wants to take away the immortal soul of people.
Phraseologism “from the evil one” is not limited to the meaning that is recorded in the dictionary. Language is a living entity, so the meaning of the game largely depends on the speaker. When a person says: “This is from the evil one”, then, in principle, not only weak arguments of the interlocutor, but generally anything else can fall into disgrace. For example, someone does not like technical news or the media, and he says: “This is from the evil one.” And such a strategy is completely arbitrary. We think that no one understands why some phenomena are from the devil, and others from God.
One way or another, we disassembled the adjective “crafty”, its meaning, synonyms and talked a little about idiom, where it is involved.