Need another word that means the same as “devious”? Find 33 synonyms and 30 related words for “devious” in this overview.
The synonyms of “Devious” are: oblique, circuitous, roundabout, shifty, underhand, underhanded, deceitful, dishonest, dishonourable, disreputable, unethical, unprincipled, immoral, unscrupulous, fraudulent, cheating, dubious, dirty, unfair, treacherous, duplicitous, double-dealing, janus-faced, two-timing, two-faced, unsporting, unsportsmanlike, indirect, meandering, winding, serpentine, tortuous, rambling
According to the Oxford Dictionary of English, “devious” as an adjective can have the following definitions:
| cheating | Violating accepted standards or rules. |
| circuitous | Marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct. The canal followed a circuitous route. |
| deceitful | Marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another- Israel Zangwill. A deceitful politician. |
| dishonest | Intended to mislead or cheat. He gave the editor a dishonest account of events. |
| dishonourable | Bringing shame or disgrace on someone or something. His crimes are petty and dishonourable. |
| disreputable | Not considered to be respectable in character or appearance. He was heavy grubby and vaguely disreputable. |
| double-dealing | Marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another- Israel Zangwill. |
| dubious | Not to be relied upon; suspect. He has a dubious record indeed. |
| duplicitous | Marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another. A duplicitous philanderer. |
| fraudulent | Intended to deceive – S.T.Coleridge. A fraudulent scheme to escape paying taxes. |
| immoral | Deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong. Unseemly and immoral behaviour. |
| indirect | (of lighting) from a concealed source and diffusely reflected. He took a careful indirect route home from his dockside rendezvous. |
| janus-faced | Having or concerned with polarities or contrasts. |
| meandering | Of a path e.g. Meandering streams. |
| oblique | Slanting or inclined in direction or course or position–neither parallel nor perpendicular nor right-angled. An oblique abdominal muscle. |
| rambling | Tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects. A big old rambling house. |
| roundabout | Not saying what is meant clearly and directly; circumlocutory. Hear in a roundabout way that her ex husband was marrying her best friend. |
| serpentine | Winding and twisting like a snake. Serpentine country lanes. |
| shifty | (of a person or their manner) appearing deceitful or evasive. Shifty eyes. |
| tortuous | Not straightforward. A tortuous road up the mountain. |
| treacherous | Tending to betray especially having a treacherous character as attributed to the Carthaginians by the Romans. Treacherous winding roads. |
| two-faced | Marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another- Israel Zangwill. |
| two-timing | Not faithful to a spouse or lover. |
| underhand | With the palm of the hand upward or outward. Achieved success in business only by underhand methods. |
| underhanded | With hand brought forward and up from below shoulder level. Underhanded practices. |
| unethical | Not morally correct. It is unethical to torment any creature for entertainment. |
| unfair | Not following the rules of a game or sport. Took an unfair advantage. |
| unprincipled | Having little or no integrity. An unprincipled womanizer. |
| unscrupulous | Without scruples or principles. Unscrupulous politicos who would be happy to sell their country in order to gain power. |
| unsporting | Not fair, generous, or sportsmanlike. A nasty unsporting serve. |
| unsportsmanlike | Violating accepted standards or rules. A penalty against us for unsportsmanlike conduct. |
| winding | Following a twisting or spiral course. Our bedroom was at the top of a winding staircase. |
| afraid | Having feelings of aversion or unwillingness. She was afraid that he would be angry. |
| backhanded | Having a meaning that is expressed indirectly or ambiguously. A backhanded and dishonest way of reaching his goal. |
| caitiff | A contemptible or cowardly person. A caitiff knight. |
| circuitous | Marked by obliqueness or indirection in speech or conduct. A long and circuitous journey by train and boat. |
| connive | Encourage or assent to illegally or criminally. Government officials were prepared to connive in impeding the course of justice. |
| cowardly | Lacking courage; ignobly timid and faint-hearted- P.B.Shelley. He was a weak cowardly man. |
| craven | A cowardly person. A craven abdication of his moral duty. |
| dastard | Despicably cowardly. The unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on December 7th. |
| dastardly | Wicked and cruel. The unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on December 7th. |
| fainthearted | Lacking conviction or boldness or courage. |
| fearful | Experiencing or showing fear. They are fearful of the threat of nuclear war. |
| fickle | Liable to sudden unpredictable change. Celebs trying to appeal to an increasingly fickle public. |
| frightened | Made afraid. I m not frightened of him. |
| inconstant | (of a person or their behaviour) not faithful and dependable. The most inconstant man in the world. |
| indirect | Extended senses; not direct in manner or language or behavior or action. An indirect cause. |
| precarious | Not securely held or in position; dangerously likely to fall or collapse. A precarious ladder. |
| rotary | A rotary machine engine or device. A rotary mower. |
| roundabout | A revolving machine with model horses or cars on which people ride for amusement; a merry-go-round. We need to take a roundabout route to throw off any pursuit. |
| shifting | Continuously varying. His constant shifting disrupted the class. |
| shifty | Characterized by insincerity or deceit; evasive. Shifty winds. |
| timorous | Showing or suffering from nervousness or a lack of confidence. Timorous little mouse. |
| unbelievable | So great or extreme as to be difficult to believe; extraordinary. Unbelievable or not it happened. |
| uncertain | Subject to change. A manuscript of uncertain origin. |
| unfaithful | Not trustworthy. You haven t been unfaithful to him have you. |
| unreliable | Dangerously unstable and unpredictable. An unreliable trestle. |
| unsound | Physically unsound or diseased. Unsound banking practices. |
| unsteady | Not firmly or solidly positioned. Her unsteady walk. |
| untrustworthy | Not worthy of trust or belief. Thomas considered her to be devious and untrustworthy. |
| volatile | A volatile substance a substance that changes readily from solid or liquid to a vapor. Volatile solvents. |
| weak | Relating to or denoting the weakest of the known kinds of force between particles which acts only at distances less than about 10 cm is very much weaker than the electromagnetic and the strong interactions and conserves neither strangeness parity nor isospin. The choruses on this recording are weak. |
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