What's the difference between beguiling and wily?

Beguiling


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Beguile
  • (a.) Alluring by guile; deluding; misleading; diverting.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He is fond of recalling what the late Labour leader John Smith told him the last time he appeared on his show - "You have a way of asking beguiling questions with potentially lethal consequences."
  • (2) Ancient towns and wooded hillsides looked gorgeous reflected in the blue water, but we were beguiled just as much by the people.
  • (3) Shotton's Agent Provocateur story is a beguiling one.
  • (4) In his speech, watched by grandees such as the former party leader Lord Ashdown, who was Clegg’s original mentor, he said: “It is clear that in constituency after constituency north of the border, the beguiling appeal of Scottish nationalism has swept all before it, and south of the border a fear of what that means for the United Kingdom has strengthened English conservatism too.
  • (5) Situated on the road to Nazareth amid the beguiling beauty of the hills of northern Israel, the town is home to the family of Tomer Hemed, Brighton’s principal striker and a big threat to Boro’s dreams.
  • (6) The downside of this approach is the abiding and beguiling folly – so topical in the centenary year of the first world war – of thinking there is an off-the-peg solution from yesterday sitting on a shelf somewhere that can deal with the instabilities of today and tomorrow.
  • (7) But for those after something more off-track, or who balk at the $750 gorilla-tracking permit fee, the chimpanzees of Nyungwe are a beguiling alternative.
  • (8) More shocking still was the sight of an entire industry systematically pulling young people into their glittering and beguiling world – with little care for the collateral damage.
  • (9) "He was a children's entertainer and they were beguiled by his singing and painting.
  • (10) Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian With the beguiling hand of an architectural alchemist, Wilson has sliced a great circle out of a concrete facade in Liverpool and set it spinning.
  • (11) Others think their one-time champion Hague has been beguiled by Europeanist mandarins at the Foreign Office.
  • (12) United, however, have rarely impressed this season, with their failings illuminated by the contrast with a beguiling Arsenal.
  • (13) In the months since their formation, the eight members of Pussy Riot have perfected their own form of protest: their songs are pithy, angry missives, largely directed at Putin, and they remain beguilingly anonymous – the band wear neon balaclavas to conceal their identities and perform flash gigs in unexpected places: on public transport, for example, and, once, on a prison roof.
  • (14) This chunky combination of adventure game and Lego construction set has beguiled players for over two years, without a multimillion-dollar development budget, or blanket advertising.
  • (15) Nancy's novels and Jessica's memoirs offered a beguiling - and friends thought - inaccurate picture of the extraordinary life lived out chez Mitford under the irascible gaze of Lord Redesdale ("Uncle Matthew" in Love in a Cold Climate), celebrated for his dislike of foreigners and his daughters' friends, disparaged collectively as "sewers".
  • (16) One reason why the arguments for Brexit are so beguiling is because it’s easy to imagine an alternative world where some of the current laws of economics or politics don’t apply.
  • (17) While regulators chisel inconsequentially at the beguiling monoliths of private power that configure today’s information flows and dams, we the citizens have been reduced to raw material – sourced, bartered and mined in a curiously fabricated “privatised commons” of data and surveillance.
  • (18) Those new to Paper were beguiled, wondering what the queen of reality TV, gossip talkshows and social media was doing on the cover of a publication they had never heard of.
  • (19) In his speech to the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow, the deputy prime minister said the Ukip and SNP leaders are making “seductive and beguiling” offers that are no more than a “counsel of despair”.
  • (20) In 2015 Labour’s Andy Burnham is offering the equally beguiling vision of “whole person care”.

Wily


Definition:

  • (superl.) Full of wiles, tricks, or stratagems; using craft or stratagem to accomplish a purpose; mischievously artful; subtle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) They could go out and trade for a pitcher such as the New York Mets’ Bartolo Colón , an obvious choice despite his 41 years, but he would come with an $11m price tag for next season and have to pass through the waiver wires process first – considering the wily mood Billy Beane is in this year, the A’s could be the team that blocks such a move.
  • (2) A wily character, he initially refused, saying the deadline was impossible.
  • (3) Noted for his Savile Row suits and languid charm, he was nevertheless a tough and wily reporter in the field, using his wits to escape death on more than one occasion.
  • (4) The News of the World said it was £750,000 ("Wily Vanessa teamed up with PR to the stars Max Clifford and the pound signs began rolling in her eyes," its reporter claimed).
  • (5) on Saturday the Liberal Democrat peer Lord Oakeshott summed up the feelings of many in the party when he suggested that the "wily" Tories had deliberately used their coalition partners as shields to deflect public anger.
  • (6) Scotland shows how that can give an illusion of success which will evaporate at the moment of choice, especially when up against a wily and ruthless incumbent.
  • (7) The wily Brazilian, managing in a record sixth World Cup, said he would make "one, maybe two" changes to the starting line‑up.
  • (8) Wily and smart, she is more than a match for the suitors who attempt to claim her in his absence; and she is no pushover, either, when Odysseus finally turns up.
  • (9) Opinion polls in recent months have repeatedly shown that Tsvangirai's popularity has been hurt by divisions within the opposition and his own scandalous love-life , putting him and Mugabe neck-and-neck, with the wily president even edging in front on occasion.
  • (10) Harradine was a wily negotiator and kept Howard guessing on his support for the goods and services tax.
  • (11) Team spirit might be an ethereal quality that is difficult to quantify on scoreboards and league tables but Karanka has given confidence to the players he inherited, been a wily transfer dealer, particularly this season with the loan signings of the strikers Patrick Bamford and Jelle Vossen, and brought through young home-grown players from the club’s academy, such as Ben Gibson and Adam Reach, who are now integral members of the squad.
  • (12) But out of nothing, Frank Farina's men were awarded a penalty just before half-time won by the wily Del Piero.
  • (13) Guns, gates and guards can only provide so much protection against a wily, creative adversary who is willing to risk oblivion.
  • (14) The wily old tease may have been mugging for the studio audience, lapping up the howls of disappointment that no doubt followed such a statement.
  • (15) A blizzard of visual sexual signifiers – fake nails, big hair, Dita Von Teese figure balanced on impossibly high stilts – and her "Jessica Rabbit sex appeal" (again, self-proclaimed) belies a wily business brain.
  • (16) Wily Ukraine national coach Oleg Blokhin also tasted victory in court after he was forced to resign from the position because of his other job, as a Ukrainian MP.
  • (17) He flew to Brazil hoping to bring him back, but he had underestimated the wily Biggs whose girlfriend, Raimunda, announced that she was expecting his child.
  • (18) Wily David Carney chalked one up for the nay-saying ageists by outfoxing youngster Thomas Deng to execute a superb run and finish, one which was harder than it may have seemed.
  • (19) After Cantor fell, McCarthy showed himself a wily tactician, coming fast out of the block and letting it be known he was the heir apparent with the necessary votes, all but sealing the majority leader race within 48 hours.
  • (20) So, when browsing, an open mind is far more effective than knowing exactly what you want – eBay works topically, so avoid anything worn by Kate Middleton and all high-street capsule collections, eg last week's Versace line for H&M, which wily types bought en masse and are currently reselling at marked-up prices.

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