What's the difference between furtive and sneaky?

Furtive


Definition:

  • (a.) Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The judge said Tamir was given “little if any time” to respond to any commands from the officers, that his arms were not raised, and that he made no “furtive movement”.
  • (2) Turnbull later shrugged off the concern as there was nothing furtive about the deal, and noted it was reported by Australian media.
  • (3) Back then the town’s Kurdish character was furtive and suppressed.
  • (4) For the 30 years I have followed Spurs to away games – in pubs, around tube stations, on the streets around the ground and within Stamford Bridge itself, the venom, ignorance and breathtaking casualness of Chelsea fans’ references to Jews, Auschwitz, the Holocaust and foreskins, often accompanied by a hissing simulation of gas chambers, is simply shocking – not least because it goes unchallenged by police, stewards or the club itself, bar a token reference furtively hidden away in the match-day programme.
  • (5) The page name could have been better translated to "freedoms on the quiet", since the word "yavashaki" [furtive in Persian] also incorporates the word "yavash" meaning gently.
  • (6) Part-timers, meanwhile, are envied for having one foot in the playground and one in the office, but worry secretly about failing to keep up with either of them: skidding late into the school pick-up, still furtively sending emails on our phones.
  • (7) Abroad, he had perhaps been best known for his furtive motorcycle tryst with his actor lover, Julie Gayet, and his messy, public breakup with his First Lady, Valérie Trierweiler.
  • (8) Nearby, guards waited furtively at the entrance to the Islamic mourning tent for Sheikh Alman al-Shijah, blown apart last Friday by a bomb placed under his car.
  • (9) A small crowd grows larger, and furtive comments become denunciations as anger pours forth against Nkunda's National Congress for People's Defence.
  • (10) As I was talking his hand started creeping over my leg in a really furtive way.
  • (11) I had always loved writing the book: from the first furtive soundings of disaffected employees of Big Pharma in London, to forages among the industry’s white chimneys of Basel, and finally to the tribal villages of Kenya, where young mothers who could barely read were being bamboozled into signing “consent forms” that made guinea pigs of their own children.
  • (12) He said French troops had come up against "furtive firing" and had briefly fired back, but he said these exchanges had now stopped.
  • (13) The total number present on the island has been extremely difficult to determine due to the rugged terrain and the furtiveness of the monkeys.
  • (14) In his documentation of this furtive Islam , Degiorgis has also highlighted the ways in which a community under siege becomes resilient and collectively defiant in the face of creeping oppression.
  • (15) A politically feeble Japan, that once imperial Asian power, shelters furtively behind its US-made anti-missile batteries.
  • (16) By 1971, about 100 deserters were living furtively in a district of Saigon nicknamed "Soul Alley", beside Tan Son Nhut airport.
  • (17) All the druidic mumbo-jumbo about the Elevating Principle and the Straight Line reminds me of stuff I furtively read in my father's books on freemasonry.
  • (18) And given that the net effectively lowered what one might call the "shame threshold" (instead of having to sneak furtively into a "specialist" shop, punters could view from the comfort and privacy of their own homes), the internet undoubtedly expanded the market for commercial porn.
  • (19) Though he often shrank snail-like into stay-at-home furtiveness, the town that made him - Salem, Massachusetts - (as any visitor can still see) faces the dark, windy ocean, and it was this Hawthorne would stare at when he worked in its Custom House from 1846-49.
  • (20) When they do, it is in a slightly furtive way, almost in whispers.

Sneaky


Definition:

  • (n.) Like a sneak; sneaking.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Males exploit this behavioural switch by increasing their sneaky mating attempts.
  • (2) "Fortunately Denmark seem to have rumbled this sneaky Dutch trick just in time to bench him... " 1 min: Denmark set the game in motion ... 2 min: Already the game has settled into the pattern we all foresaw, with Holland staking out the full width of the pitch and stroking the ball around deliberately.
  • (3) Expert view A sneaky, bar-room blow When Alexander Lebedev said he "neutralised" a man by punching him in the face on Russian television, he echoed the dark argot of the KGB, the agency of which he was a member long before spending a slice of his fortune on the Independent and the Evening Standard.
  • (4) The national team’s visit to Parramatta Stadium on Saturday night was no PR-stunt, nor was it a chance to simply get the boys out for the evening and avoid the temptation of a sneaky late-night visit to Kings Cross’ nightspots.
  • (5) Presidential candidate Marco Rubio escalated his criticism of his opponent Ted Cruz this week by suggesting a central component of the Texas senator’s tax plan was both “intentionally sneaky” and a “dangerous expansion of Washington’s power”.
  • (6) Marco Rubio accuses Ted Cruz of 'intentionally sneaky' tax policy Read more In a defiant statement announcing his boycott, the Paul campaign said: “By any reasonable criteria, Senator Paul has a top-tier campaign.
  • (7) Photograph: Garrett MacLean The sneaky bidder was trying to wait just until the end in hopes I wasn’t watching and snake the Terrys’ house out from us.
  • (8) On a rare occasion when they broke, Steven Fletcher endured the agony of a sneaky knee in the lower back from Fabricio Coloccini.
  • (9) Active for Life – a social enterprise organisation that promotes physical literacy – recommend doing this, and suggest a relay race in which students jump into and over various obstacles , or a rolling race in which students work together to move like “sneaky snakes” .
  • (10) That’s either lazy, sneaky or both.” Vanstone says the debate is not about anyone being weak on terrorists.
  • (11) Somehow, Seattle's fan base has become this larger than life entity that ranks with the best in the world, and strangely enough, this transformation seemed to happen under all of our noses, almost in a sneaky way.
  • (12) "He's gone down fighting," said the coach Ange Postecoglou , perhaps having a sneaky dig at Doncaster's relegation woes while he was at it.
  • (13) Last week I saw a man tweet: "Girl sat opposite on tube tried to take a sneaky photo of me.
  • (14) Collier apologised on Thursday and said he had no idea that the teenager, who was otherwise fully clothed and posing alongside an older man, was playing a prank commonly known as "sneaky nuts".
  • (15) She is bossy, domineering, abrasive, secretive, uptight and petty – but what really gets me is her serial use of covert, sneaky methods to get what she wants – often at my expense.
  • (16) But, what you don't get is a constantly updated stream of the most up to date publications; a sneaky peak of a chapter from a book on social work practice from @palgravesw , or free access to the best journal articles of the year thanks @routledge_phsc .
  • (17) So what if you had a very sneaky keylogger which waited until you were in a web browser and then sent its keylogging payload to its collection site?
  • (18) We’ve all been caught at various times having a sneaky listen to Euphoria .
  • (19) 82 min: Dempsey approaches the ref to show him blood seeping from his lip ... and the replay reveals the wound was caused by a sneaky clout from Yahia.
  • (20) Too many heavy meals, several large brandies, a few sneaky fags, plenty of afternoon naps, one unscheduled trip to Asda before a visit to the hydro-electric “northern powerhouse” and even the most limited of progress in EU renegotiations can feel like one giant leap for mankind.