1
as in deceptive
given to or marked by cheating and deception
the commercial is a part of an underhanded PR campaign to whitewash the company's environmental record
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in clandestine
undertaken or done so as to escape being observed or known by others
an underhanded attempt at infiltrating the other party's headquarters
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in underhand
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Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of underhanded
Los Angeles Times,
18 Mar. 2026
The underhanded plan The way this plan was launched speaks volumes.
—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 Mar. 2026
Instead of helping the contestant, the complaint alleges that show producers convinced the couple not to quit the show and assured them there was nothing underhanded occurring with their depiction.
—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Mar. 2026
What your boyfriend did was inconsiderate and underhanded and showed disregard for your feelings.
—
Jeanne Phillips,
Mercury News,
9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for underhanded
Adjective
In California, the law prevents incumbents from pulling off the kind of underhanded stunt that Garcia and Daines managed.
—
Los Angeles Times,
18 Mar. 2026
The underhanded plan The way this plan was launched speaks volumes.
—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
14 Mar. 2026
Instead of helping the contestant, the complaint alleges that show producers convinced the couple not to quit the show and assured them there was nothing underhanded occurring with their depiction.
—
Mekishana Pierre,
Entertainment Weekly,
5 Mar. 2026
What your boyfriend did was inconsiderate and underhanded and showed disregard for your feelings.
—
Jeanne Phillips,
Mercury News,
9 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for underhanded
Recent Examples of Synonyms for underhanded
Adjective
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Shadow fleet vessels disguise their identity and purpose through a broad range of deceptive activities, including spoofing their locations and destinations.
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The complaint alleged deceptive advertising and other misconduct.
Adjective
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That was a concern because other research has indicated the Chinese government has, at times, delayed public disclosure of vulnerabilities submitted to the program so they could later be used in clandestine cyberattacks.
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The screening usually focusses on clandestine hanky-panky, but this season the girls’ irreverence was so abundant that the producers treated them to an unprecedented second viewing night.
Adverb
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The noble consort takes the empress’s place, smirking, and stealthily pushes her down the stairs when no one is watching.
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But did Spilotro go about life as an upstanding model citizen who rubbed elbows with the Vegas elite, while quietly and stealthily protecting the Mafia's financial interests in Vegas casinos?
Adjective
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All three Republican candidates apparently hired the same signature gathering firm to collect signatures, many of which appear to have been fraudulent.
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However, because agentic systems can execute actions independently, an error can become a severe operational failure, such as authorizing fraudulent transactions or deleting mission-critical databases.
Adjective
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Get Ready: Katy Perry Has Released a Sneak Peek of Her New Song And the internet has receipts.
Adverb
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As a group of dancers surrounded her on the B-stage, she was surreptitiously harnessed into a rig that carried her aloft, limp yet belting, into the heavens, or at least into what looked like a UFO hovering over the arena.
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Gray-hat hackers, unlike white-hats, surreptitiously sneak into corporate systems to find security vulnerabilities.
Adjective
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The weather service also cautions the heat index is calculated for shady areas only.
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That makes these networks valuable for people trying to hide mass scraping, fake ad clicks, account attacks or other shady activity.
Adjective
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To achieve this, Israel employed airstrikes, cyberattacks, interdictions of weapons and covert action to impede Iran’s ability to resupply Hezbollah’s existing arsenal and supply it with more advanced weapons.
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After 1996, when the protease inhibitors were developed, the duty to warn continued to be an important standard when HIV status became more clinically covert.
Cite this Entry
“Underhanded.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/underhanded. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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