unartistic

[uhn-ahr-tis-tik]

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.

Other Word Forms

• unartistically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of unartistic¹

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.”

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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.

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What is not in Scripture is legendary and unartistic, because necessarily at variance with scriptural truth.

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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.

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His sharp and witty pencil gave to these generally commonplace and unartistic figures a life-likeness and an expression which soon won for him a name in fashionable circles.

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