sneaky

From sneak +‎ -y.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsniːki/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːki

sneaky (comparative sneakier, superlative sneakiest)

1. Elusive; difficult to capture or observe due to constantly outwitting the adversaries.

   Catching those thieves will be hard: they're so sneaky!

   • 1995 April, Jeff Csatari, “Tackle Tips”, in Boys' Life, volume 85, number 4, Irving, Texas: Boy Scouts of America, Inc., →ISSN, page 42:

     Be sneaky. Fish frighten easily.

2. Dishonest; deceitful.

   They played a sneaky trick on us.

• slippery
• evasive, dodgy

• sneak

• “sneaky”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sneaky”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

sneaky (plural sneakies)

1. (espionage, slang) Any device used for covert surveillance.
   • 1974, Miles Copeland, Without cloak or dagger: the truth about the new espionage, page 244:

     […] in cooperation with the National Security Agency, installs and maintains "sneakies" throughout the U.S.S.R. and Communist China — but increasingly, denied areas are surveyed more simply.

   • 1991, Chapman Pincher, The Truth about Dirty Tricks:

     […] has used travellers to plant 'sneakies' - small electronic transmitting devices which form part of a surveillance network.

• Kaysen, Sankey, Yankes, snakey