arty
adjective
characterized by a showy, pretentious, and often spurious display of artistic interest, manner, or mannerism.
arty
1 American
[ahr-tee]
/ ˈɑr ti /
adjective
Informal.
artier,
artiest
Arty
2
American
[ahr-tee]
/ ˈɑr ti /
noun
Arty.
3
American
abbreviation
arty
British
/ ˈɑːtɪ /
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of arty
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.
See Examples For:
“The New Abnormal” had a handful of compact songs that channeled the band’s ultra-cool early influences—think arty garage-rock like the Velvet Underground, the Stooges and Television—but “Reality Awaits” leans into experimentation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The maze of shadowy streets around the New York Stock Exchange has been rarely associated with elegant, arty escapes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026
His three sisters - Rachel, Tanya and Fiona - remember him as an "arty, sporty" brother who was keen on the environment and loved running in the Scottish hills.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2025
The filmmaker’s 2015 debut feature, “The Witch,” was a landmark in elevated horror, and his remake of the original arty vampire movie, “Nosferatu,” arrives at Christmas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2024
I guess you had to show you were smart before being allowed to take an "arty" course.
From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos
Walsh and Boyens will pen the screenplay with writers Phoebe Gittins and Arty Papageorgiou.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 9, 2024
The game centers on a child named Arty who finds himself at his grandmother's house.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 20, 2023
Arty, who was an event planner before the pandemic, showcases the elaborate holiday decorations that adorn the mansion each season.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2021
“For a lot of Black people, we don’t want old homes, because we don’t want the history that comes with them,” says Jamie Arty, a Long Island homeowner.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2021
Arty played through it as Martha Plimpton’s character, Stef, while I played as Mikey, Sean Astin’s character.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
Arty., who was sent with a squad of men on the 22d ult. to make certain seizures.
From Between the Lines Secret Service Stories Told Fifty Years After by Henry Bascom Smith
Arty. and two men will proceed without delay to the cities of Philadelphia and New York, for the purpose of arresting certain persons engaged in manufacturing forged Discharge papers.
From Between the Lines Secret Service Stories Told Fifty Years After by Henry Bascom Smith
Arty., will proceed to Washington with Mrs. Mary E. Sawyer, Rebel mail carrier, turn her over to Supt. of Old Capitol Prison, taking receipt for prisoner.
From Between the Lines Secret Service Stories Told Fifty Years After by Henry Bascom Smith
Arty. and Commanding Detectives, Middle Department, 8th Army Corps, with one man, Lucius Babcock, of his force, will proceed to New York City, on special government business.
From Between the Lines Secret Service Stories Told Fifty Years After by Henry Bascom Smith
“Sound & Color,” which came out in 2015, was somewhat artier but met with even greater success, topping Billboard’s album chart and winning three Grammys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Structurally and tonally, it’s a far cry from the crowd-pleasing American blockbusters of the 1980s, yet it is a box-office success and reflects that audiences were ready for artier movies as mainstream entertainment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 8, 2026
She says the success of artier efforts such as Hereditary, from studio A24, and crowd pleasers from horror specialists Blumhouse.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2025
Oldenburg’s first blaze of publicity came in the early ’60s, when a type of performance art called the Happening began to crop up in the artier precincts of Manhattan.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 18, 2022
Just as “Easy Rider” offered an elevated, artier version of the illicit thrills in “The Wild Angels,” so “Race with the Devil” is like “Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry” but with a sublimely devilish twist.
From New York Times ● Aug. 17, 2019
Describing the "dirt in the face" burial scene as the most challenging part of the shoot, Stone added: "Was it the artiest thing I’ve done? I guess so."
From Reuters ● May 5, 2022
It was with Sutcliffe, the artiest Beatle, that Kirchherr connected most deeply: the two soon became lovers and moved into a loft space in her mother’s house.
From The Guardian ● May 19, 2020
It was a double whammy unprecedented even for the artiest of art-pop groups.
From Economist ● Jul. 5, 2018
In the artiest touch, English lyrics tumble across the screen as Vargas sings of loss, loneliness and solitude.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 26, 2017
What might be described as the artiest work in the show is from the 1970s and labeled simply “Untitled I.”
From New York Times ● Aug. 20, 2011
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.
