artist

[ahr-tist]

noun

1. a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.

2. a person who practices one of the fine arts, especially a painter or sculptor.

3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc..

   a commercial artist.

4. a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer.

   a mime artist; an artist of the dance.

5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.

6. a person who is expert at trickery or deceit.

   He's an artist with cards.

7. Obsolete.,  an artisan.

artist

/ ˈɑːtɪst /

noun

1. a person who practises or is skilled in an art, esp painting, drawing, or sculpture

2. a person who displays in his work qualities required in art, such as sensibility and imagination

3. a person whose profession requires artistic expertise, esp a designer

   a commercial artist

4. a person skilled in some task or occupation

   an artist at bricklaying

5. obsolete,  an artisan

6. slang,  a person devoted to or proficient in something

   a booze artist

   a con artist

Word History and Origins

Origin of artist¹

First recorded in 1575–85; from Middle French artiste, from Medieval Latin artista “master of arts”; equivalent to art ¹ + -ist

Synonym Study

Artist, artisan, artiste are persons having superior skill or ability, or who are capable of producing superior work. An artist is a person engaged in some type of fine art. An artisan is engaged in a craft or applied art. An artiste is usually a skilled public performer.

Example Sentences

It’s a rare feat that an artist has such a pull, only recently repeated by that of Oasis, whose draw was more than a decade in the making.

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Under the auspices of Saint Heron — the multidisciplinary institution she started in 2013 — the Grammy-winning artist and curator has fearlessly dove into the worlds of music, choreography, design, architecture, visual art and more.

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Live Entertainment depends on touring artists not canceling.

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Perhaps those by architects, who I like to think of as artists who are really good at math, are a better option.

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“Anytime an artist gets this big, there’s going to be backlash,” he said — a take with which Swift would likely agree.

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Related Words

• artisan 
• composer 
• expert 
• inventor 
• painter