1
as in shady
given to acting in secret and to concealing one's intentions
his opponent's sneaky campaign manager was clearly up to something
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in sneak
undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others
a sneaky plan to replace the priceless painting with a copy
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Recent Examples of sneaky
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Your jeans collection isn’t the only section of your wardrobe that can benefit from Rag & Bone’s Miramar offerings: The brand offers sneaky sweatpant shorts, too.
—
Averi Baudler, People.com, 4 Apr. 2025
That includes a starring role alongside Bruce Willis in the time-travel actioner Looper (2012), a sneaky voice cameo in Glass Onion (2022), and the lead in an episode of Johnson’s murder mystery series Poker Face (2023).
—Danny Horn, EW.com, 31 Mar. 2025
Tax season tips: Here's the sneaky way scammers are trying to steal your personal information
In 2025, people who generally make $67,000 or less qualify for free tax help through the IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs.
—Susan Tompor, USA Today, 28 Mar. 2025
With unmarked cases on the line, the people in charge of communicating their values had the opportunity to be very sneaky.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sneaky
Averi Baudler, People.com, 4 Apr. 2025
That includes a starring role alongside Bruce Willis in the time-travel actioner Looper (2012), a sneaky voice cameo in Glass Onion (2022), and the lead in an episode of Johnson’s murder mystery series Poker Face (2023).
—Danny Horn, EW.com, 31 Mar. 2025
Tax season tips: Here's the sneaky way scammers are trying to steal your personal information
In 2025, people who generally make $67,000 or less qualify for free tax help through the IRS's Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly programs.
—Susan Tompor, USA Today, 28 Mar. 2025
With unmarked cases on the line, the people in charge of communicating their values had the opportunity to be very sneaky.
—Laura Bradley, Vulture, 18 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for sneaky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for sneaky
Adjective
-
The mood shifts from shady to straight-up scandalous.—
Shelby Stewart,
Essence,
21 Apr. 2025
-
Instead, Fenix lost the biggest match of his young WWE career, albeit under shady circumstances, while Americano picked up a WrestleMania win.—
Blake Oestriecher,
Forbes.com,
20 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
But reception took a turn for a worse when critics noticed Meta’s sly approach to ranking on LMArena, a site that ranks LLMs based on user votes.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
21 Apr. 2025
-
Each plays a role in fooling their foe, who captures the turtle, while the deer, heeding the turtle’s good counsel, manages a sly escape.—
John Nemec,
The Conversation,
7 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
After authorities responded with mass arrests, weavers formed clandestine committees and took secret oaths.—
John Cassidy,
New Yorker,
14 Apr. 2025
-
Til Schweiger plays a sardonic whale-tourism boat captain (and former elite military operative, obviously) who gets roped into taking down a clandestine organization that’s building the perfect super-soldier through genetic experiments.—
Jordan Crucchiola,
Vulture,
4 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
My network—stealthy enough that thieves often don’t even know they’re being tracked.—
Katie Jackson,
Travel + Leisure,
27 Apr. 2025
-
Of course, like everything else in the defense realm, this advantage has resulted in an arms race waged over a century as navies come up with better ways to detect submarines while making their boats stealthier.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
26 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Former Attorney General Merrick Garland said in October that the Justice Department foiled the plot as the men bought the rifles from an undercover FBI employee.—
Krystal Nurse,
USA Today,
18 Apr. 2025
-
Kasie discovers that the Poet used jeweler Gemma Wood (Michelle Lukes) as a go-between to broker deals with anonymous clients, so Torres goes undercover as the man himself since news of his death hasn't left NCIS HQ.—
Sara Netzley,
EW.com,
15 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
After the unexpected death of the pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is tasked with running the covert process of choosing a new leader.—
Saman Shafiq,
USA Today,
22 Apr. 2025
-
Those documents gave curious readers more details about Cold War-era covert U.S. operations in other nations, but did not initially lend credence to long-circulating conspiracy theories about who killed JFK.—
Josh Funk and Haya Panjwani,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
-
Disco first emerged in underground Black, Latino and gay clubs where people created their own version of dance music.—
Alice George,
Smithsonian Magazine,
18 Apr. 2025
-
This week, Lawrence Burney steps in to talk about how a part of Baltimore lingo is entering the wider underground rap lexicon through artists from the Mid-Atlantic.—
Lawrence Burney,
Pitchfork,
18 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Sneaky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sneaky. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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