Meaning & use

knave

noun·Advanced

A dishonest or unprincipled man.

See it in a sentence

The old story warned children never to trust a knave who flatters too easily.

The villagers came to see the tax collector as nothing more than a common knave.

A note on using this word

Knave now sounds old-fashioned or literary outside its use as another name for the jack in a deck of cards.

Words with a similar meaning

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

Another way to use it

2. noun

The playing card ranked between the ten and the queen, also called the jack.

He needed the knave of clubs to complete his winning hand.

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