Meaning & use
knavish
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Meaning
adjectivecomparableliteraryold-fashioneddisapproving
Dishonest, tricky and willing to cheat or deceive other people for gain.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after be: a knavish trick, he was knavish.
Patterns
- a knavish trick
- knavish behavior
The merchant's knavish tricks cost the villagers their savings.
In the play, a knavish servant tricks his master.
He gave a knavish grin before he pocketed the coins.
Word forms
| comparative | more knavish |
|---|---|
| superlative | most knavish |
Common combinations
- knavish trick
- It was a knavish trick to sell the same horse twice.
- knavish fellow
- The tale features a knavish fellow who cheats travelers.
- knavish grin
- He gave a knavish grin as he counted the money.
- knavish scheme
- The knavish scheme fooled the whole town.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dishonest
- Dishonest is the plain, modern word, while knavish sounds old and suggests playful trickery.
- roguish
- Roguish is warmer and can mean charmingly mischievous, whereas knavish is more clearly dishonest.
- deceitful
- Deceitful focuses on lying and misleading, while knavish suggests cunning behavior by a rascal.
- crooked
- Crooked is informal and suggests criminal dishonesty, while knavish is a more literary term.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: knavish or naive?
knavish vs naive
Naive means innocent and too trusting, while knavish means tricky and dishonest. They sound a little alike but are almost opposite in character.
Practice
In the old story, the innkeeper's ____ tricks left every traveler a little poorer.
Choose one answer.
Knavish means dishonest and tricky, which fits tricks that leave travelers poorer. Naive is a tempting sound-alike but means innocent, not deceitful.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “knavish”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.