craft

[kraft, krahft]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR craft ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural crafts or for 5, 8, craft.

an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, especially manual skill: the craft of a mason.

skill; dexterity: The silversmith worked with great craft.

skill or ability used for bad purposes; cunning; deceit; guile.

the members of a trade or profession collectively; a guild.

a ship or other vessel.

a number of ships or other vessels taken as a whole: The craft were warned of possible heavy squalls.

aircraft collectively.

a single aircraft.

verb (used with object)

to make or manufacture (an object, objects, product, etc.) with skill and careful attention to detail.

Origin of craft

before 900; Middle English; Old English cræft strength, skill; cognate with German Kraft, Dutch kracht, Old Norse kraptr

Related formscraft·less, adjective

Synonyms for craft

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR craft ON THESAURUS.COM

1. metier. 2. talent, ability. 3. craftiness, shrewdness, deceitfulness, deception.

Synonym study

3. See cunning.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for craft

technique, art, handicraft, profession, aircraft, spacecraft, plane, barge, vessel, ship, airplane, boat, dexterity, artistry, expertness, adeptness, ability, adroitness, ingenuity, proficiency

Examples from the Web for craft

Contemporary Examples of craft

The precision it took to craft such a cohesive, wholly compelling work over 12 years is nothing short of remarkable.
Oscars 2015: The Daily Beast’s Picks, From Scarlett Johansson to ‘Boyhood’
Marlow Stern
January 6, 2015
Carolyn had her own customers, mostly art and craft mavens like Blanchette Rockefeller.
The Bookstore That Bewitched Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Greta Garbo
Felice Picano
December 16, 2014
The Macallan represents a lifestyle; the kind that represents a person set on mastering their craft.
The Restaurant, Flask, And Photography Worthy of The Macallan Whisky
December 16, 2014
The Macallan collaborations have even extended past photographers to additional masters of their craft focused on innovation.
The Restaurant, Flask, And Photography Worthy of The Macallan Whisky
December 16, 2014
It offers keen insights into Hitch's craft while painting an intimate and unsentimental picture of the man behind the camera.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days
David Freeman
December 13, 2014

Historical Examples of craft

But how could you be a wise master without learning the craft?
The Armourer's Prentices
Charlotte M. Yonge
Yet I hold that the true art of my craft lies as much in the furnace as in the brush.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
Nothing was said, but they got silently into the boat, which might have been Charon's craft for all he could see of it.
In the Midst of Alarms
Robert Barr
The least hesitation or a false movement, and both aviator and craft are in danger.
Flying Machines
W.J. Jackman and Thos. H. Russell
This was a precaution we always took, on account of the craft's being so tender.
Ned Myers
James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for craft

craft

noun

skill or ability, esp in handiwork

skill in deception and trickery; guile; cunning

an occupation or trade requiring special skill, esp manual dexterity

the members of such a trade, regarded collectively
(as modifier)a craft guild

a single vessel, aircraft, or spacecraft

(functioning as plural) ships, boats, aircraft, or spacecraft collectively

verb

(tr) to make or fashion with skill, esp by hand

Word Origin for craft

Old English cræft skill, strength; related to Old Norse kraptr power, skill, Old High German kraft

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for craft

Old English cræft, originally "power, physical strength, might," from Proto-Germanic *krab-/*kraf- (cf. Old Frisian kreft, Old High German chraft, German Kraft "strength, skill;" Old Norse kraptr "strength, virtue"). Sense expanded in Old English to include "skill, art, science, talent" (via a notion of "mental power"), which led to the meaning "trade, handicraft, calling." The word still was used for "might, power" in Middle English.

Use for "small boat" is first recorded 1670s, probably from a phrase resembling vessels of small craft and referring either to the trade they did or the seamanship they required, or perhaps it preserves the word in its original sense of "power."

Old English cræftan "to exercise a craft, build," from the same source as craft (n.). Meaning "to make skilfully" is from early 15c., obsolete from 16c., but revived c.1950s, largely in U.S. advertising and commercial senses. Related: Crafted; crafting.