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
What obviously matters to Stewart is the totality of experience and “The Chronology of Water,” arty and naturalistic in equal measure, is no toe-dip into directing — it’s deep-end stuff from start to finish.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 9, 2026
Ralphs’ songwriting and guitar work in that band helped move rock ‘n’ roll out of the psychedelic ‘60s and into the struts and arty pomp of ‘70s glam.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2025
He said he was mostly interested in the satiric rather than the arty side of painting.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
Pennebaker’s cinéma vérité record of Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, as he transitions from Great Folk Hope to Arty Enfant Terrible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 26, 2024
The game centers on a child named Arty who finds himself at his grandmother's house.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 20, 2023
Arty and her husband, Frantz, a tech engineer, are in the process of restoring a circa 1834 mansion in Oyster Bay, New York.
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
“Now, Arty, I want to know everything. First of all, what happened here?”
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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
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
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
Rob, you’ve spent the past decade working with directors like David Cronenberg, Claire Denis and the Safdie brothers on smaller, artier films.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 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 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
John Frankenheimer's 1966 sci-fi psychodrama Seconds starring Rock Hudson, one of Hollywood's bleakest and artiest artefacts, was a perfect fit.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 18, 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.
