art form

American  

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.

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art form British  

noun

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

2. a recognized medium of artistic expression

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Etymology

Origin of art form

First recorded in 1865–70

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

art form

It’s apt that theater was Callie’s art form of choice.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Doughty feels that not being familiar with ballet can stop people from engaging with the art form.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

An exhibition at New York’s Bard Graduate Center showcases fashion’s essential, energizing role in the emergence of cinema as an art form.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

John’s grandfather, an organist, impresses upon his pupil that music will only torment him if he thinks of it as an art form to be perfected; he must instead treat it as a “commodity.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

According to the crumbling book, it was an old, old art form that had begun back when Chattana was little more than a sleepy fishing village.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

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