art form

noun

1. the more or less established structure, pattern, or scheme followed in shaping an artistic work:

   The sonata, the sonnet, and the novel are all art forms.

2. a medium for artistic expression:

   ballet, sculpture, opera, and other art forms.

3. a medium other than the artistic regarded as having highly developed or systematized rules, procedures, or formulations:

   international diplomacy regarded as an art form.

art form

noun

1. a conventionally established form of artistic composition, such as the symphony or the sonnet
2. a recognized medium of artistic expression

Word History and Origins

Origin of art form¹

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

There is an art form to getting people to their breaking points without injuring them.

From Outside Online

BuzzFeed — which turned quizzes into an audience-data harvesting art form — is still stumping site visitors with tests like the one promising to detect “Your Soulmate’s First Initial Based On The 4th Of July Party You Plan.”

From Digiday

Also, maybe this is geeky, but I love listening in on earnest discussions of craft among people who respect each other as much as they care about their art form.

From Time

Here’s a look at how Ross elevated relaxation to an art form.

From Popular-Science

All of the art forms called “time-based” proceed at a pace determined by their creators, but only video and film have the seeming power to speed, slow, stop and even reverse time.

From Washington Post

It took decades for comics to recover and emerge as an adult art form.

From The Daily Beast

Veteran illustrator Howard Brodie was on the case, pioneering the rising art form.

From The Daily Beast

Last year Ellen Page made waves by elevating the celebrity video game cameo to an art form.

From The Daily Beast

He recognized that the paper cut-outs could become an art form in themselves.

From The Daily Beast

He was not only prolific, but also created an entirely new art form with his vivid, cut-out paper works.

From The Daily Beast

But in spite of her popularity, it should never be forgotten that the novel is an art-form, not a medium for doctrinaires.

From Project Gutenberg

But to tell truth she has chosen a difficult and dangerous if alluring art form.

From Project Gutenberg

The result is, another art-form has to be employed, the Fairy Tale, of which we have already spoken.

From Project Gutenberg

If this were so, it were a grievous fault—at any rate in so far as the moving-picture play aims at being an art-form.

From Project Gutenberg

They are developing the embryo of what was the arts-and-crafts idea into a really fine, useful and satisfying art form.

From Project Gutenberg