artful
Americanadjective
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slyly crafty or cunning; deceitful; tricky.
artful schemes.
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skillful or clever in adapting means to ends; ingenious.
an artful choice of metaphors and similes.
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done with or characterized by art or skill.
artful acting; artful repairs.
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Archaic. artificial.
adjective
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cunning or tricky
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skilful in achieving a desired end
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archaic characterized by skill or art
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archaic artificial
Other Word Forms
- artfully adverb
- artfulness noun
- unartful adjective
- unartfully adverb
- unartfulness noun
Etymology
Origin of artful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The result is an artful onslaught of high-flying, spinning, partnered and sometimes tumbling excursions suggesting that Mr. Peck was eagerly all wound up as he choreographed.
As the game flourished, Beijing shifted its tone, calling it an artful representation of Chinese culture, which helped revive investor interest and drive up share prices for videogame companies in China.
Mr. Kempt, who worked as a criminal lawyer in the Arctic for almost two decades, conjures this forbidding landscape and its residents with artful authority.
Pay close attention to appreciate the artful genuflection to classics like “Excalibur.”
From Salon
Wouldn’t it be like this subtly sly author if the announcement turned out to be a narrative conceit—one last artful trick to cheat the end from arriving?
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
