unartistic

American  

[uhn-ahr-tis-tik] / ˌʌn ɑrˈtɪs tɪk /

adjective

1. not conforming to the standards of art; not aesthetically appealing.

   The architecture was crude and unartistic.

2. lacking the skill of an artist or artisan.

   It’s obvious these are copies, from an assortment of unartistic clods.

3. lacking an involvement in or appreciation of the fine arts.

   Her formal education was decidedly unartistic.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unartistically
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of unartistic

First recorded in 1835–40; un- ¹ ( def. ) + artistic ( def. )

Example Sentences

She believes herself destined to be a novelist but is tormented by worry that wanting to write fiction about her own life, as she does, is “childish, egotistical, unartistic and worthy of contempt.”

From New York Times • May 20, 2022

Her duties — menial and unartistic yet highly necessary — involved cleaning dirt and dust from the finished cels, as the transparent celluloid sheets that went before the camera were known.

From New York Times • Oct. 12, 2021

Critics were horrified, but Manhattanites turned up at the rate of 300 an hour to see paintings of such "unartistic" subjects as dance halls and crowded city streets.

From Time Magazine Archive

He and Clara were very broke, following a highly unartistic attempt to make a killing on the Bourse.

From Time Magazine Archive

The great bunches, not yet ripe, but promising a splendid harvest, looked tempting enough to one who had only seen them on fruit stands, or in market thrown together in unartistic confusion.

From Ocean to Ocean on Horseback Being the Story of a Tour in the Saddle from the Atlantic to the Pacific; with Especial Reference to the Early History and Devel by Glazier, Willard W.