From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishwilywil‧y /ˈwaɪli/ adjective INTELLIGENTclever at getting what you want, especially by tricking people SYN cunning a wily politician —wiliness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
wily• Even then his response was wily.• It had grown old and wily.• a wily businessman• The archetypal survivor is the trickster, and his strategy is wily cunning.• All these benefits were acquired by a wily diplomacy.• The idea of the touring professional as wily entrepreneur was nearly dead.• But Rose knew that wily Grandpa had quietly saved enough cloth to make a few high quality, black market clothes.• There is Achilles, the fearless hothead; the courageous and disciplined Hector; and the wily, imaginative Odysseus.• Breen had a reputation for being a tough and wily negotiator.• The Ingushetians have been more patient and wily than their hotheaded Chechen neighbors.• The Fawcett brothers were too wily to be caught, and the local residents could get no help from the law.Origin wily (1200-1300) wile; → WILES 