A Word A Day : Knavery



Tuesday, 4th March 2008 : Today's Word is ...

Knavery



( Noun )



Pronunciation : na-ve-re


Definition:



1. Dishonest or crafty dealing

2. An instance of trickery or mischief

3. An act of deliberate betrayal


Etymology:


Old English cnafa - knava - boy, male servant - Germanic


Synonyms


artifice, astuteness, bunk, cheating, chicane, chicanery, corruption, craft, criminality, crookedness, cunning, deceit, double-dealing, duplicity, faithlessness, falsehood, falsity, flimflam, fourberie, fraud, fraudulence, graft, guile, hanky-panky, improbity, infamy, infidelity, insidiousness, knavery, knavishness, mendacity, perfidiousness, perfidy, racket, rascality, sharp practice, slyness, stealing, swindle, treachery, trickery, trickiness, unscrupulousness, wiliness


Antonyms


honestness, honesty, goodness, morality, righteousness


Contextual Examples:


• Mercury, displeased at his knavery, not only took away the golden axe, but refused to recover for him the axe he had thrown into the pool.

• Monk after undergoing a long confinement for some fresh act of fraud and knavery at length sunk under an attack of his old disorder and died in prison.


Related Words:


knavishly : Adverb

knave : Noun

knavish : Adjective

knavishness : Noun


Enjoy this list and then get around for preparing your own list of words. There is no better way of boosting your words power. The most effective way to build your vocabulary is described in the page on Word Power. Educational research has discovered that your I.Q. is intimately related to your Word Power. Take a standard Vocabulary test and then an intelligent test, the result in both will be substantially the same. The more extensive your vocabulary, the better your chances of success, other things being equal- success in attaining your educational goals, success in moving ahead in your business or professional career, success in achieving your intellectual potential.

Previous Word| Next Word



A Word A Day Index


From Knavery to HOME PAGE