artful
Adjective
- Clever or skillful, especially in a cunning or crafty way.
- not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness; - David Cannadine
- marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft
- "the artful dodger"
- "an artful choice of metaphors"
Adj
- Characterized by, or performed with, cleverness or contrivance; clever, ingenious.
- Not naturally produced; artificial; imitative.
- Exhibiting or using much art or skill; dexterous; skilful.
- Skilful at using dishonest or unfair means to achieve a purpose; crafty, cunning.
- Knowledgeable about the liberal arts; learned, wise.
Examples
- Her artful placement of ’J’ blocked me and scored her 42 points.
Origin / 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).
Synonyms
disingenuous, adroit, artful, astute, cautelous, crafty, cunning, deceitful, foxlike, foxy, frood, guileful, shrewd, slim, sly, subtle, tricky, underhand, vulpine, wily
Scrabble Score: 9
artful: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordartful: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
artful: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary