skillful
AmericanSynonym Usage
Skillful, skilled, expert refer to readiness and adroitness in an occupation, craft, or art. Skillful suggests especially adroitness and dexterity: a skillful watchmaker. Skilled implies having had long experience and thus having acquired a high degree of proficiency: not an amateur but a skilled worker. Expert means having the highest degree of proficiency; it may mean much the same as skillful or skilled, or both: expert workmanship. See also dexterous.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of skillful
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at skill 1, -ful
Explanation
If you're skillful, you're very good at some particular thing. A skillful debater might have a successful career in politics, while a skillful baker could make the best brownies you've ever tasted. Skillful people tend to be experts at something, like a skillful ping pong player or a skillful pianist. You can also use this adjective to mean "done in an expert way," so you could praise your sister's skillful snow fort building or your brother's skillful video gaming. The adjective skillful comes from skill, which is rooted in the Old Norse skil, "distinction, discernment, or adjustment."
Vocabulary lists containing skillful
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.
Historians of Rome tend to divide the emperors between the skillful and the inept, the good and the bad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Scenic painter Miriam Hellmann was the skillful hand behind the mural’s final product: an image of a giant, bright orange poppy, a butterfly and a peacock, along with floral and faunal symbols.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Wade, and making skillful strides on the world stage.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026
"The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result," he said.
From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026
But the spread of any new and contagious ideology also has a lot to do with the skillful use of group power.
From "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell
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