tricksy

tricksy [trik-see] ExamplesWord Origin adjective, trick·si·er, trick·si·est.

1. Also tricksome. given to tricks; mischievous; playful; prankish.
2. difficult to handle or deal with.
3. Archaic. tricky; crafty; wily.
4. Archaic. fashionably trim; spruce; smart.

Origin of tricksy 1545–55; trick + -s3 + -y1; cf. -sy Related formstrick·si·ly, adverbtrick·si·ness, noun Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for tricksy Historical Examples of tricksy

The king is only, or he appears, tricksy because you compel him to wind and counterplot.

Vittoria, Complete

George Meredith

Still the beaver fair was enlivened by music and tricksy gambols.

The Story of Tonty

Mary Hartwell Catherwood

I’ve heard tell of them all my life, I know, and of their tricksy ways.

Fairies Afield

Mary Louisa Molesworth

But for him Ayala would run about as though she were a tricksy Ariel.

Ayala’s Angel

Anthony Trollope

Art is a tricksy quantity and like quicksilver is ever mobile.

Ivory Apes and Peacocks

James Huneker

British Dictionary definitions for tricksy tricksy adjective -sier or -siest

1. playing tricks habitually; mischievous
2. crafty or difficult to deal with
3. archaic well-dressed; spruce; smart

Derived Formstricksiness, noun Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012