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Artful
Definitions
- 1 Characterized by, or performed with, cleverness or contrivance; clever, ingenious.
"The nights ſtrange proſpects, made to feede the eyes; / With Artfull fyres, mounted in the skies: / Graced with horred claps of ſulphury thunders; / May make your mind, Iehouahs greater wonders."
- 2 Not naturally produced; artificial; imitative.
"Some of this Artfull coulour now I want, / VVhich from the Muſes I deſire to borrow, / In Melancholly Priam to diſpaint / The perfect Image and true face of Sorrow, […]"
- 3 Exhibiting or using much art or skill; dexterous; skilful.
"[W]e, in changed ſhapes, act Ovid's tales, / […] / Then vvill I haue thee in more moderne formes, / Attired like ſome ſprightly dame of France, / Braue Tuſcan lady, or proud Spaniſh beauty; / Sometimes, vnto the Perſian Sophies vvife; / Or the grand-Signiors miſtreſſe; and, for change, / To one of our moſt art-full courtizans, […]"
- 4 Skilful at using dishonest or unfair means to achieve a purpose; crafty, cunning. especially
"Here, again, were shadows on the window-blind of guests assembling; and there a group of handsome girls, all hooded and fur-booted, and all chattering at once, tripped lightly off to some near neighbour's house; where, wo upon the single man who saw them enter—artful witches: well they knew it—in a glow!"
- 5 Knowledgeable about the liberal arts; learned, wise. obsolete
- 1 marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft wordnet
- 2 not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness wordnet
Etymology
From art (“skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation”) + -ful (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the sense of being full of, tending to, or thoroughly possessing the quality expressed by the noun).
See also for "artful"
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