cunning vs underhanded

cunning

adj
  • Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour. 

noun
  • The natural wit or instincts of an animal. 

  • The disposition to employ one's skill in an artful manner; craftiness; guile; artifice; skill of being cunning, sly, conniving, or deceitful. 

  • Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity. 

  • Practical skill employed in a secret or crafty manner; craft; artifice; skillful deceit; art or magic. 

underhanded

adj
  • Sly, dishonest, corrupt, cheating. 

  • Done by moving the hand (and arm) from below. 

  • Insincere; sarcastic. 

  • An underhanded compliment is actually criticism. 

  • Secret; surreptitious. 

  • His underhanded trick backfired and he was disqualified. 

  • Understaffed. 

adv
  • In an underhanded manner. 

noun
  • Devious people, collectively. 

How often have the words cunning and underhanded occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )