art

n.

1. Skill or creative power

   skill, craft, technique, artistry, craftsmanship, artisanship, trade, creativity, skillfulness, expertise, faculty, talent, knack, flair, ingenuity, inventiveness, imagination, adroitness, artifice, cunning, craftiness, artfulness, wiliness, finesse, facility, mastery, virtuosity, know-how*.

2. The study and creation of beauty

   representation, illustration, delineation, abstraction, imitation, modeling, description, portrayal, pictorialization, design, simulation, performance, personification, drawing, sketching, molding, shaping, painting, symbolization, characterization, creating, creativity, sculpting, carving, fine art.

   Styles or schools of art include: realist, naturalist, genre, abstract, representational, functional, organic, modernist, futurist, nonobjective, cubist, surrealist, dadaist, primitivist, impressionist, post-impressionist, expressionist, symbolist, constructivist, dynamic, vitalistic, abstract expressionist, op, pop, art nouveau, pre-Columbian, Pre-Raphaelite, Victorian, Greek, Roman, Japanese, classical, medieval, Renaissance, Restoration, grotesque, Mannerist, rococo, baroque, romantic, minimalist.

3. The product of art, sense 2

   work of art, artwork, creation, masterpiece, magnum opus (Latin), chef d'oeuvre, objet d'art (both French); see also architecture, dance 1, literature 1, music 1, painting 1, picture 3, sculpture 2, statue.

4. The study of humanities; plural

   liberal arts, humanities, philosophy, music, painting, history, literature, language; see also history 2, language 2, literature 1, music 1, philosophy 1, science 1.

art, the word of widest application in this group, denotes in its broadest sense merely the ability to make or do something the art of making friends, but in a narrower sense implies making or doing that displays creativity and unusual perception; skill implies expertness or great proficiency in doing something; artifice implies skill used as a means of trickery or deception; craft implies ingenuity in execution, sometimes even suggesting trickery or deception; in another sense, craft is distinguished from art in its application to a lesser skill involving little or no creative thought