artful Hear it!

artful Definition

art·ful (ärt′fəl)

adjective

  1. skillful or clever, esp. in achieving a purpose
  2. sly or cunning; crafty an artful swindle
  3. done with, using, or showing much art or skill
  4. artificial; imitative

artful Related Forms
art′·fully adverb art′·ful·ness noun
artful Synonyms

artful

modif.

  1. Crafty

    shrewd, cunning, wily; see intelligent 1, sly 1.

  2. Skillful

    clever, adroit, ingenious; see able 2.

artful Usage Examples

Modifies a noun

  • dodger: He was also the artful dodger in the film version of Twist.
  • deception: For artful deception need to get driving looking at takes a certain.
  • way: Hunter: " I think this rite of passage has always been something worth remarking on in an artful way.
  • contrivance: If we could renounce our artful contrivances and discard our ( scheming for ) gain, there would be no thieves nor robbers.
  • dodge: Artful diplomatic dodges might well be of value here and there for the petty parliamentary chess moves of bourgeois clique.
  • manipulation: By careful observation, what appeared to be spontaneous demonstrations were, in fact, artful manipulations.

Modifying Another Word

  • very: Prescott has been very artful about the basis on which he has bypassed the planning regulations.
  • too: But he was unimpressed, finding it too artful, too tame.
  • so: But parts of the book are so artful and oblique as to seem almost sly.
artful Quotes

No pleasing Intricacies intervene, No artful wildness to perplex the scene; Grove nods at grove, each a mirror of the other. The suff'ring eye inverted Nature sees, Trees cut to Statues, Statues thick as trees, With here a Fountain, never to be play'd, And there a Summer-house, that knows no shade; Here Amphitrite sails thro'myrtle bow'rs There Gladiators fight, or die, in flow'rs Un-water'd see the drooping sea-horse mourn, And swallows roost in Nilus'dusty Urn.

—Pope, Alexander