🇬🇧 Devious meaning: English Vocabulary Flash Card

If someone is devious, they act sneaky and tricky on purpose, often using clever plans or tricks to get what they want without other people noticing or figuring it out right away.

My devious brain remembers every embarrassing thing I ever did but forgets where I put my homework in two seconds.

My devious alarm clock goes off five minutes late so I’m always almost late but never quite in trouble.

Grandma made a devious rule: whoever complains about dinner has to do the dishes, so now we all say, “Yum, mysterious green stuff!”

I made a devious plan to “help” with the birthday cake so I could “accidentally” lick all the extra frosting.

A fun fact about the word “devious” is that it comes from Latin roots meaning “off the main road,” like someone taking a sneaky side path.

The devious fox watched the farmer's henhouse, tail swaying. A devious plan formed: a devious climb through a loose board, a devious leap to the hungry chicks. He took a devious path, quiet as a shadow. The hen squawked, the farmer chased, and the devious fox ran home with one warm egg, proud.

This word is at the C2 level, which means it represents the highest mastery of English. It’s often used in specialized or highly formal contexts and helps you communicate with precision and subtlety, much like a native speaker.

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