Word.ws English Dictionary

cannier

cannier is the comparative form of canny.

Meaning of canny

Adjective (1)

canny (comparative cannier, superlative canniest)

  1. Careful, prudent, cautious.
    • The politician gave a canny response to the reporter’s questions.
  2. Knowing, shrewd, astute.
    • The canny lawyer knew just how to get what he wanted.
  3. Frugal, thrifty.
    • canny investments
  4. (Northumbria, Scotland) Friendly, pleasant, fair, agreeable; (sometimes) funny.
    • She’s a canny lass hor like!
  5. (Northumbria, Scotland) Gentle, quiet, steady.
    • a canny horse

Adjective (2)

canny (comparative cannier, superlative canniest)

  1. (proscribed) Natural, normal.
    • I should have been glad to be assured that she prayed when on her knees, or read when that book was before her; I should have felt that she was more canny and human.1865, Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas

See all 10 meanings of canny

Questions about cannier

What is cannier the comparative form of?
Cannier is the comparative form of canny.

Words near cannier in the dictionary

  1. cannibalizes
  2. cannibalizing
  3. cannibally
  4. cannibals
  5. Cannie
  6. cannier
  7. canniest
  8. Canniff
  9. Canniffs
  10. canniflavone
  11. cannikin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cannier (page history and authors); canny (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “cannier.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cannier. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.