sleight
/slait/
Definition
- Noun:
- Skill and dexterity, especially in using the hands: Refers to the ability to perform manual tasks with great cleverness, agility, and subtlety, often so fast or smooth it is hard to detect.
- Cunning or craftiness, especially in deception: Refers to cleverness used for trickery or deceit, often involving skillful manipulation.
Examples of Usage
- Noun:
- The magician's incredible sleight made the coin vanish without a trace.
- He accomplished the repair with such sleight that it looked untouched.
- The con artist used more psychological sleight than physical trickery.
Advanced Usage
- "sleight of hand": This is the most common phrase. It literally means skill and dexterity of the hands, especially in performing tricks or magic. Figuratively, it can refer to any clever deception or trickery.
- The card trick was a masterpiece of sleight of hand.
- The financial report hid the losses through accounting sleight of hand.
Variants and Related Words
- Sleightly (adv., archaic): In a skillful or cunning manner.
- Sleighty (adj., archaic): Characterized by sleight; cunning.
Synonyms
- Dexterity: Skill in performing tasks, especially with the hands.
- Adroitness: Cleverness or skill, often in a physical or mental context.
- Cunning: Skill in achieving one's ends by deceit.
- Artifice: Clever or cunning devices used to trick others.
Related Phrases
- Sleight of body: Agility and skill in bodily movement, similar to acrobatics.
- The dancer moved with a sleight of body that seemed to defy physics.
Related Idioms
- Sleight of hand: As described in 'Advanced Usage', this is the primary idiom.
- The politician's promise was just a bit of rhetorical sleight of hand.
Noun
-
adroitness in using the hands
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