What's the difference between devious and guile?

Devious


Definition:

  • (a.) Out of a straight line; winding; varying from directness; as, a devious path or way.
  • (a.) Going out of the right or common course; going astray; erring; wandering; as, a devious step.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Cholecystectomy provided successful treatment in three of the four patients but the fourth was too ill to undergo an operation; in general, definitive treatment is cholecystectomy, together with excision of the fistulous tract if this takes a direct path through the abdominal wall from the gallbladder, or curettage if the course is devious.
  • (2) He told the court: “We have been trying at the bar to imagine whether we can think of any other group of legal or natural persons, terrorist suspects, arms dealers, Jews, in respect of whose evidence one might even begin to think that one could tenably say, ‘Well, of course, in looking at this evidence I have been very careful because I know from the past that these people are a bit devious and a bit unworthy, and the only thing they’re really interested in is subverting public health.’ ” Yet last week’s judgment, running to 1,000 paragraphs, confirmed in excoriating detail just how determined big tobacco has been down the decades to achieve precisely this goal.
  • (3) "They are alert, cunning and devious individuals who have current knowledge of investigative methods and techniques which may be used against them," said an internal report.
  • (4) In the interim, Gough had also played a devious old friend of the Doctor – by now, Peter Davison – in the 1983 story Arc of Infinity.
  • (5) Ideally they should also possess the sort of clipped tones that make vulgarities sound like Virgil and the sort of wardrobe that dresses up deviousness as a gentleman's sport.
  • (6) You're a devious villain conducting the perfect crime, like the dashing guest star in the opening scene of a classic Columbo.
  • (7) This is in part due to planned obsolescence – a devious ploy by manufacturers bolstered by marketing strategies to make us fall out of love with a product hastily.
  • (8) In the maximum likelihood (ML) method for estimating a molecular phylogenetic tree, the pattern of nucleotide substitutions for computing likelihood values is assumed to be simpler than that of the actual evolutionary process, simply because the process, considered to be quite devious, is unknown.
  • (9) But all of these arguments, Anderson implied, fell on deaf ears because of what he called the “myth of tobacco exceptionalism” – the view that manufacturers are “uniquely devious”.
  • (10) "While millions of working people are either without work, or having their pay frozen or slashed, Britain's boardrooms are finding even more devious ways to squeeze even more cash from their companies," said the general secretary, Len McCluskey.
  • (11) But, at heart, Harper’s team are not that different from politicians across the developed world who have discovered that democracy is a pretty sweet theory but that, in reality, if you want to get hold of power and use it, there are all kinds of devious moves available that have very little to do with that antique idea.
  • (12) These presentations of the devious ease with which the Vatican dissembles also clearly serve as a metaphor for the Catholic church’s unwillingness to address the scandals of priestly paedophilia.
  • (13) They can change their name but it’s the same thing – if people are wise, they will see it is the devious politics of the hard left.” In response to complaints about the email, a Corbyn campaign spokesman said: “At this crucial time for our party and our country, it is essential that we bring Labour together.
  • (14) During the trial's closing arguments Donald's lawyer, Max Blecher, accused Shelly of an "unconscionable", "devious" and "invidious" scheme to strip him of the Clippers.
  • (15) There aren’t enough Trotskyists, entryists, devious Tories and random renegades to explain such an overwhelming victory.
  • (16) The mining magnate says Brough, who is contesting former Speaker Peter Slipper's Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher, has been devious over the James Ashby affair.
  • (17) In the UK, the doughty chair of the public accounts committee, Margaret Hodge, investigating Google for tax avoidance has denounced the firm as "devious", "calculating … and manipulating".
  • (18) The 12 Years a Slave star is perhaps Lee’s most high-profile find , but others who have found success from the Showcases include Randall Park who stars in the upcoming series Fresh off the Boat, as well as Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams, Chadwick Boseman (42) and Dania Ramirez (Devious Maids).
  • (19) The book described Charles’s court as so riven by infighting that it is known by insiders as “Wolf Hall”, after Hilary Mantel’s fictional portrayal of Thomas Cromwell’s devious machinations on behalf of King Henry VIII.
  • (20) The model stipulates that given exposure to sustained aversive maternal control and a maternal communication style which is subtle and devious, the child comes to adapt with approach, stratagem-based behaviours and heightened vigilance for evaluative information (i.e.

Guile


Definition:

  • (n.) Craft; deceitful cunning; artifice; duplicity; wile; deceit; treachery.
  • (n.) To disguise or conceal; to deceive or delude.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The home side lost Raheem Sterling, who injured a groin in a challenge with Juan Mata, and even when they pinned back their opponents for periods of the second half it was a lot of huff and puff without too much guile.
  • (2) Lord of the Rings made him the doomed anti-hero , he was easily the best thing in the disastrous Troy, giving Odysseus guile, wit and that familiar, rough-edged charm, and he terrified TV viewers as property developer John Dawson in the dark and brilliant Red Riding .
  • (3) Before coming back to Afghanistan I was worried I would not be able to take photographs again in the way I used to, that my injuries would leave me incapable of the movement and guile needed to be a good photographer.
  • (4) But later, by the time he was selling out theatres for his live shows, that gawky guile and snotty cheek had morphed into relentless anxiety and slapstick self-consciousness.
  • (5) Once they got to grips with Leicester’s zeal, Villa began to demonstrate the greater guile.
  • (6) The loss of the Brazilian's speed and guile on the left forced Toppmöller to reorganise his attack.
  • (7) Yet what's most apparent on meeting Russell is an almost complete lack of guile.
  • (8) In an act of political guile, Clegg negotiated with both parties in secret, not telling the other what he was doing in a bid to maximise his strength.
  • (9) Likewise, whoever is chosen to attack down the right must show enough guile and speed to beat his man on the outside and draw Slovenian defenders out of the middle.
  • (10) In London he instantly caught the imagination with his dash and guile.
  • (11) After he became President Ten Per Cent in 1965, his income from kickbacks for government contracts increased, but his guile went no further than stashing $215,000 in a New York bank in his own name.
  • (12) It's his spirit, his guile, his unflappable conviction in professional knowledge and practice that you need to channel.
  • (13) This victory took West Ham nine points clear of 18th-placed Sunderland, whom they visit on Monday, yet such a chasm seems remarkable given the way this team spluttered as they did for long periods here, their football lacking guile and purpose even if the manager said they were "absolutely magnificent".
  • (14) Straw has been Blackburn's MP for 33 years; he replaced Barbara Castle, for whom he had worked as a special adviser (something of a talent-spotter, Castle once said that she had employed Straw for his "guile and low cunning").
  • (15) Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has gotten this far with a guile that allows him to say whatever he thinks an audience wants to hear.
  • (16) Miliband has shown more courage and guile than many expected.
  • (17) And in the end Ireland lacked the guile and patience to craft the one clear chance their energy might have deserved.
  • (18) Evergreen striker Paul Ifill, playing his 100th game for the Phoenix, provided an injection of pace and guile when he came on after 65 minutes but, although opportunities were created, the finishing wasn't there.
  • (19) Given the guile of those courtiers, that's quite a task: he'll need all the support he can get.
  • (20) Del Piero must be aware of his stature in the game and this was, of course, the Italian using all that aforementioned experience and guile to Sydney’s advantage, just in a different way.