devious

Word family

de·vi·ous /ˈdiːviəs/ adjectiveadj

1 DISHONESTusing dishonest tricks and deceiving people in order to get what you want 欺诈的，不诚实的 → deceitful

a devious politician

一名不诚实的政客

► see thesaurus at dishonest

2 formalSTRAIGHT# not going in the most direct way to get to a place 〔路线〕迂回的，绕弯的 SYN circuitous

a devious route

迂回的路线

—deviously adverbadv

—deviousness noun [uncountableU]

Examples from the Corpus

devious• His relationship with the universe becomes more subtle and devious.• Or was it as devious as that?• He was raucous, sentimental, hot. tempered, practical, simple, devious, big, and powerful.• He might be devious, but he was not without principles.• Their method of collecting money was devious, but not illegal.• In the film, he plays a devious defence lawyer named Richard Adler.• Opportunism is a devious kind of self-interested behaviour.• She says we have devious minds!• You have to be pretty devious to be successful in that sort of business.• He infuriated his allies with his arbitrary decisions and devious ways.

From Longman Business Dictionary

deviousde·vi·ous /ˈdiːviəs/ adjectiveadj

using dishonest tricks and deceiving people to get what you want

He’s an honest businessman, not the devious executive the government says he is.

—deviously adverbadv

—deviousness noun [uncountableU]

the deviousness of some of the advertising aimed at children

Origin devious

(1500-1600) Latin devius, from via “way”

Chinese

Syllable