different between crafty vs insidious

English

Etymology

From Middle English crafti, crefti, from Old English cræfti? (“ingenious; skilful; crafty; cunning; virtuous; powerful”), from Proto-Germanic *kraftagaz, *kraftugaz (“powerful”), equivalent to craft +? -y. Cognate with Saterland Frisian kräftich, West Frisian krêftich, Dutch krachtig, German Low German krachtig, German kräftig.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?æfti/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?k???fti/

Adjective

crafty (comparative craftier, superlative craftiest)

1. Relating to, or characterized by, craft or skill; dexterous.
2. Possessing dexterity; skilled; skillful.
3. Skillful at deceiving others; characterized by craft

   Synonyms: cunning, wily

   • For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

   • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[1]

     Together, with the help of the drunkard Haymitch (Woody Harrelson), the only District 12 citizen ever to win the Games, they challenge tributes that range from sadistic volunteers to crafty kids like the pint-sized Rue (Amandla Stenberg) to the truly helpless and soon-to-be-dead.

4. Sneaky; surreptitious.

   I took a crafty look at his hand of cards while he was out of the room.

Synonyms

• (skillful): See also Thesaurus:skilled
• (cunning, wily): See also Thesaurus:wily

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle French insidieux, from Latin ?nsidi?sus (“cunning, artful, deceitful”), from ?nsidiae (“a lying in wait, an ambush, artifice, stratagem”) + -?sus, from ?nside? (“to sit in or on”), from in (“in, on”) + sede? (“to sit”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?s?di.?s/

Adjective

insidious (comparative more insidious, superlative most insidious)

1. Producing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner.
   • 2007, Sharon Weinstein, Ada Lawrence Plumer, Principles and practice of intravenous therapy

     The nurse always must be alert to signs of slow leak or insidious infiltration.

2. Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.
   • The insidious whispers of the bad angel.

   • 1948, D.V. Chitaley (editor or publisher), All India Reporter, volume 3, page 341:

     All these facts clearly appear to me now to establish that the sanctioned scheme was a part of a bigger and […] more insidious scheme which was to hoodwink the creditors and to firmly establish and consolidate the position […]

   • 1969, Dorothy Brewster, John Angus Burrell, Dead reckonings in fiction

     The atmosphere of this insidious city comes out to meet him the moment he touches the European shore; for in London he meets Maria Gostrey just over from France.

   • 2005, Anita Desai, Voices in the City, page 189:

     This seemed to her the worst defilement into which this insidious city had cheated her and in her agitation, she nearly ran into the latrine, […]

   • 2007, Joseph Epstein, Narcissus Leaves the Pool, page 171:

     This is the insidious way sports entrap you: you follow a player, which commits you to his team. You begin to acquire scraps of utterly useless information about teammates, managers, owners, trainers, agents, lawyers.

   Hansel and Gretel were lured by the witch’s insidious gingerbread house.

3. (nonstandard) Treacherous.

   The battle was lost due to the actions of insidious defectors.

Derived terms

• insidiously
• insidiousness

Related terms

Translations

References

• insidious in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• insidious in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “insidious” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.