Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Exhibiting art or skill: "The furniture is an artful blend of antiques and reproductions” ( Michael W. Robbins).
- adj. Skillful in accomplishing a purpose, especially by the use of cunning or craft.
- adj. Artificial.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Done with or characterized by art or skill.
- Artificial, as opposed to natural; produced or producing by art: as, “too artful a writer,” Dryden, Life of Virgil.
- Skilful, Of persons, skilful in adapting means to ends; adroit.
- Of things, skilfully adapted; ingenious; clever.
- Cunning; crafty; practising or characterized by art or stratagem: as, “the Artful Dodger,” Dickens, Oliver Twist.
- Synonyms Cunning, Artful, Sly, etc. (see cunning), deceitful, politic, shifty, insidious.
Wiktionary
- adj. Performed with, or characterized by, art or skill.
- adj. Artificial; imitative.
- adj. Using or exhibiting much art, skill, or contrivance; dexterous; skillful.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Archaic Performed with, or characterized by, art or skill.
- adj. Artificial; imitative.
- adj. Using or exhibiting much art, skill, or contrivance; dexterous; skillful.
- adj. Cunning; disposed to cunning indirectness of dealing; crafty. [The usual sense.]
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness
- adj. marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft
Etymologies
- art + -ful (Wiktionary)
Examples
“She looks closely at the aqua and maroon forms stirring on the empty background, the seasons of her life written in artful prose across her face.”
A Michoacan tradition: the needlework artistry of Hermelinda Reyes
“Using the tilt of the Sixaxis, you stir the petal of a flower on the breeze, and as you touch other opening blooms on your way, your single pale curl is joined by gradually more colorful petals, eventually assembling the sort of floral cloud seen in artful visions of springtime cherry blossom breezes.”
“Interrogation, at its most artful, is a contest of wits.”
“Hamilton weaves memorable characters and elemental emotions in artful prose with the lofty theme of Western-imposed "education" versus a village's perceived perils of exposure to the developed world.”
The Camel Bookmobile: Summary and book reviews of The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton.
“If it wasn't entirely lacking in artful display, I'd say they'd aged it, to take off the new shine.”
“People who are good with things, people like me, can appreciate the infinite diversity of possible tools buried in artful combinations of even the humblest technologies.”
“She calls her artful and designing, which sounds to me very much as if Master Frank might admire the damsel.”
“Both the prince and the philosopher choose, how ever to involve this eternal truth in artful and labored obscurity.] 71 That sentiment is expressed almost in the words of Julian himself.”
“And there were so many eligible young women on the market, although none of them were described as artful hussies!”
“Chloe is director Atom Egoyan's foray into the realm of what might be called artful trash.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘artful’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Skilled
precise, dexterous, expert, crafty, adept, proficient, agile, artful, qualified, capable, talented, facile and 1 more...
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DAY4_01/07/2013
miserly, frugal, prevaricate, variance, histrionic, demur, demure, beatific, perfunctory, preemptive, peremptory, indigent and 16 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6689 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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magoosh1
aberration, aboveboard, abysmal, ace, affable, aghast, alacrity, ambiguous, ambivalent, ameliorate, amenable, amiable and 205 more...
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What Do You Mean ?
U Gotta Know These.......
falter, ruddy, flounder, pallid, fumble, founder, labile, titular, tacit, pragmatic, fatalism, jaded and 112 more...
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Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young ...
These words are from Samuel Richardson's novel Clarissa, Or, The History of a Young Lady, 1747-48
adumbrate, virago, varlet, rencounter, akimbo, palliate, amanuensis, amok, equipage, cully, se'ennight, resentments and 560 more...
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SAT vocab
abash, abdicate, abate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
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mariposa417's Words
cerulean, jewel, malfeasance, precipice, crossroads, beautiful, adore, sublime, superfluous, poppy, monarch, lashes and 101 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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My Revised GRE Preparation List
Words from the new GRE : This list consists mostly of words from the book Magoosh-GRE-vocab-ebook, which is one of the best vocab materials available, especially if you have started preparing one ...
mulct, dupe, pittance, stipend, defray, cupidity, avarice, prodigal, profligate, affluent, insolvent, penurious and 533 more...
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My GRE word list
polemic, ad hominem, fallacious, comity, pugnacious, laconic, veracious, prosaic, contrite, paucity, alacrity, gregarious and 176 more...
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just words.
coquette, solecism, peripherally, recrudescence, viscid, turpitude, sententious, light-heeled, interminably, unflappable, palpably, solicitous and 215 more...
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Papageno's Words, Pt. I
hobbledehoy, absquatulate, chthonic, prolix, ululate, internecine, verisimilitude, animadversion, concupiscence, vertiginous, cucullate, lucubrate and 1554 more...
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New GRE Preparation List
All the words which I encounter during my GRE studies. :)
rhetoric, errant, arrant, artless, artful, ephemeral, libel, rhapsody, cloy, conjecture, relegate, aberrant and 927 more...
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