Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Artful |
ArtfulAdjective1. Not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness; "an ambitious, disingenuous, philistine, and hypocritical operator, who...exemplified...the most disagreeable traits of his time"- David Cannadine; "a disingenuous excuse". 2. Marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft; "the artful dodger"; "an artful choice of metaphors". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "artful" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Note: Artful \Art"ful\, adjective. [From Art.]. (Websters 1913) |
Synonym: ArtfulSynonym: disingenuous (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: artless (adj), ingenuous (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Courtesy | Diplomatic, tactful, politic; artful. |
Cunning | Art, artifice; device, machination; plot; (plan); maneuver, stratagem, dodge, sidestep, artful dodge, wile; trick, trickery; (deception); ruse, ruse de guerre; finesse, side blow, thin end of the wedge, shift, go by, subterfuge, evasion; white lie; (untruth); juggle, tour de force; tricks of the trade, tricks upon travelers; espieglerie; net, trap. |
Adjective: cunning, crafty, artful; skillful; subtle, feline, vulpine; cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent; deep, deep laid; profound; designing, contriving; intriguing;Verb: strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving; artificial; tricky, tricksy; wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy; underhand; (hidden); subdolous; deceitful; slippery as an eel, evasive; crooked; arch, pawky, shrewd, acute; sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle; canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff. | |
Deception | Trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite; card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck; artful dodge, swindle; tricks upon travelers; stratagem; (artifice); confidence trick, fake, hoax; theft; ballot-box stuffing barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game; shell game, thimblerig; skin game. |
Falsehood | Collusive, collusory; artful; (cunning); perfidious; spurious; (deceptive); untrue; falsified; Verb: covinous. |
Thief | Cut purse, pick purse; pickpocket, light-fingered gentry; sharper; card sharper, skittle sharper; thimblerigger; rook, Greek, blackleg, leg, welsher; defaulter; Autolycus, Jeremy Diddler, Robert Macaire, artful dodger, trickster; swell mob, chevalier d'industrie; shoplifter. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Artful |
| English words defined with "artful": artfully, artlessness ♦ Cannei, cozen, craftily, cunningly ♦ foxily, Foxlike ♦ guise ♦ Insidious disease ♦ jugglery ♦ Knackish, knavishly ♦ Plaited, politic, Practic, pretence, pretense, pretext ♦ slyly, Subdolous, Subtile ♦ trickily, Trickish ♦ Undesigning ♦ Versute. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "artful": Abbot, Adam and Eve, Artful Dodger ♦ Calomel ♦ Doomsday ♦ Kitten ♦ Pastry, Patelin, Pomegranate, Poppies ♦ Teeth, Thumb ♦ Welsh Rarebits. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "artful": Knackish. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Eve Outwits Artful Adam (1918) Jack Spratt's Parrot as the Artful Dodger (1916) Pimple's Artful Dodge (1915) Artful Not 'Alf (1915) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Artful cousin James. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | A chance for artful angling!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Charles Churchill | Who often, but without success, have prayed for apt Alliteration's artful aid. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| "Artful" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 94.37% of the time. "Artful" is used about 71 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 94.37% | 67 | 40,952 |
| Noun (proper) | 5.63% | 4 | 175,879 |
| Total | 100.00% | 71 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expression using "artful": artful dodger. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
artful dodger | 68 | artful gallery hand | 3 |
artful | 11 | artful record | 3 |
artful nude | 9 | artful teapot | 3 |
artful yarn | 9 | animator artful gif | 3 |
artful little | 7 | artful bead | 3 |
bella cucina artful food | 7 | artful investment | 2 |
artful dodger lyrics | 7 | 2 artful dodger | 2 |
artful lodger | 5 | artful decor | 2 |
artful cookie | 4 | artful treasures.net | 2 |
artful move | 4 | artful dodger escape | 2 |
artful craft | 4 | artful potter | 2 |
artful hand | 4 | artful garden | 2 |
artful stamper | 3 | artful mind | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "artful"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | artificial (artificial, camp, cultured, factitious, false, made, meretricious, pinchbeck, simulated, synthetic, synthetical, tin, unnatural), mashtrues (ambidextrous, bilker, bluffer, bouncer, catchy, cheat, Crimp, deceitful, deceiver, deceptive, delusive, delusory, diddler, dishonest, dodger, double, double dealing, double-dealer, finagler, fraud, fraudulent, guileful, gyp, humbug, hustler, impostor, Jack-in-the-box, mendacious, misleading, mountebank, pettifogger, pettifogging, phoney, quack, racketeer, rascal, rascally, rogue, sandman, shuffler, skin, snide, swindler, trickster, twister, two-tongued), i zgjuar (apt, astir, awake, awaken, bright, cagey, cagy, clever, exalted, ingenious, intelligent, nimble, quick, quick-witted, ready-witted, reasonable, responsible, sagacious, sharp, sharp-witted, sleepless, smart, wakeful, waking), i shkathët (adroit, agile, brisk, catlike, clever, cunning, deft, dexterous, dextrous, facile, feat, habile, knacky, light-handed, lightsome, lissom, lissome, lithe, lithesome, loose-limbed, lubricous, natty, neat, neat-handed, nimble, quick-witted, ready, resourceful, shifty, skilful, skillful, slick, smart, spry, supple, swift-handed, tactical, vivacious), dinak (argute, canny, crafty, cunning, daedalian, devious, furtive, leery, pawky, sleeky, sly, wily). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | متقن (accurate, dexterous, dextrous, exact, excellent, exquisite, masterful, masterly, neat, perfect, precise, skilful, skillful, subtle), مخادع (bluff, bluffer, crafty, deceitful, deceptive, delusive, devious, dishonest, disingenuous, double, double dealing, double-tongued, face, false, fraudulent, hustler, illusive, illusory, indirect, insincere, misguiding, misleading, sly, trickish, tricky, underhand, wily), ماكر (crafty, cunning, deceitful, deep, designing, disingenuous, feline, foxlike, foxy, furtive, guileful, malicious, pawky, politic, scheming, sharper, slick, slim, sly, smart, subtle, trick, vulpine, wily), إصطناعي (artificial, made up, synthetic), داهية (adroit, astute, pawky, quizzical, resourceful, shifty, shrewd, sly), بارع (able, accomplished, adroit, bright, brilliant, capable, clever, crafty, cunning, dexterous, dextrous, educated, fancy, fiend, foxy, handsome, handy, ingenious, intelligent, masterful, masterly, neat, nice, pretty, skilful, skilled, skillful, smart, subtle, superior, sweet, very beautiful, witty, workmanlike, workmanly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | хитър (acute, arch, calculating, catty, clever, crafty, cunning, cute, deep, designing, disingenuous, dodgy, foxy, guileful, insidious, knowing, leery, long-headed, parlous, patent, pawky, politic, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sleek, slim, sly, smart, supple, wary, wide, wily, wordly-wise), ловък (able, adroit, agile, dodgy, handy, knacky, knowing, light fingered, natty, neat, neat-handed, peart, politic, pretty, shrewd, skilful, skillful, slick, swift-handed, tricksy, tricky, wary, whizbang). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 狡猾 (Cunning, foxy), 憸 (flattering), 毚 (cunning), 刁 (wicked). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | vychytralý (astute, designing, devious, shrewd, shrewish, sly, wily), mazaný (cannie, canny, crafty, cunning, nifty, sharp, slick, sly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | astucieux, rusé, malin. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | listig (clever, crafty, cunning, cunningly, foxy, guileful, sly, smart, vulpine, wily), kunstvoll (artfully, artistic, artistical, artistically, elaborate, fancy, ingenious, ornate, skillful, skillfully), hinterlistig (crafty, cunning, deceitful, insidious, malicious, perfidious, treacherous, wily). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | πανούργοσ (arch, astute, canny, crafty, cunning, designing, parlous, pawky, sharp, shrewd, sly, slyish, subtile, subtle, vulpine, wily), επιδέξιοσ (adroit, deft, dexterous, dextrous, great at, manipulator, masterful, skilful, skilled, skillful, slick). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | ערמומי (arch, calculating, canny, catchy, crafty, cunning, devious, foxy, insidious, pawky, shifty, slicker, sly, underhand, wily). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | ügyes (able, adept, adroit, clean, clever, crafted, cunning, dab, daedalian, deft, dexterous, dextrous, dodge, expeditious, expenditious, facile, feat, good, habile, handy, ingenious, masterly, natty, nimble-fingered, politic, proficient, ready worker, skilful, skillful, skilly, slick, to know how many beans make five, versatile). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | licik (cagey), cerdik (astute, canny, cunning, sharp, sharp-eyed, smart, tricky), banyak akal (ingenious). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | astuto (arch, astute, cagey, canny, crafty, cunning, leery, shrewd, slick, sly, subtle, wily). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Korean | 교묘한 (Adroit, Dexterous, dextrous). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | schleitagh (skilful), scheial (dexterous, skilful), ellynagh (artificial, artistic, cultivated, mannered, mannerliness, well-bred), cooishagh (causal, cautelous, chatty, curiosity, inquisitive, wily). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | artfulay astuto (acute, adroit, arch, astucious, astute, canny, clearheaded, clever, crafty, cunning, designing, guileful, jesuitic, jesuitical, leery, longheaded, machiavellian, perspicacious, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sly, smart, sophisticated, subtil, subtile, subtle, tricksy, tricky, vulpine, wily), artificioso (designing, skilful, skillful), ardiloso (astute, captious, clever, cunning, elusive, guileful, leery, sly, smart), simulado (assumed, counterfeit, double, dummy, feigned, make-believe, mock, pretended, sham, simulate, simulated, spurious), habilidoso (corndodger, dexterous, dextrous, dodger, handy, hoe-cake, ingenious, knacky, skilful, skillful, slick, tactical, wieldy), hábil (able, adroit, canny, capable, cattish, circumspective, clever, cunning, deft, dexterous, diplomatic, knacky, light-handed, neat, neat-handed, practised, skilful, skilled, skillful). (various references) abil (adroit, apt, artistic, artistical, astute, clean, clever, competent, crafty, cunning, deep, deft, dexterous, fit, handy, industrious, knowing, natty, qualified, ready, resourceful, sharp, shifty, skilful, skilfully, skilled, skillful, skillfully, sly, smart, subtle, swift-handed, versatile), viclean (arch, astute, cagey, catlike, catty, crafty, cunning, cute, deceitful, downy, foxy, guileful, leery, pawky, quick-witted, shifty, sly, slyly, subtle, wily), imitativ (emulative, mimic), dibaci (adroit, clever, deft, dexterous, handy, skilful, skilled, skillful, slick, sly, subtle, tricky), şmecher (acute, arch, astute, canny, catchy, clever, crafty, cunning, cute, deep, dodger, downy, leery, sharp, shaver, shifty, slick, slippery, sly, slyboots, wise guy), şiret (arch, canny, cord, crafty, cunning, fox-like, gimp, guileful, lace, pawkily, pawky, sharp, shifty, sly, slyboots, slyly, string, subtle, tricky, wily). (various references) хитрый (astute, cagey, cattish, catty, crafty, cunning, disingenuous, insidious, leery, pawky, rat-face, serpentine, sleeky, sly, tricky, vulpine, wily), ловкий (adept, adroit, clean, crafty, cunning, deft, dexterous, dextrous, dodgy, feat, habile, handy, knacky, knowing, light fingered, light-handed, natty, neat, neat-handed, politic, sailorly, skilful, skillful, slick, swift-handed, tactical, tricky). (various references) vešt (able, accomplished, adept, adroit, clever, cunning, daedal, deft, dexterous, habile, handy, knacky, knowing, proficient, sciential, skilled, skillful, slick, subtle, tall), prepreden (cagey, cagy, cunning, guileful, politic, sharp, shrewd, slick, sly, smart, subtle, tricksy, tricky, vulpine), lukav (arch, astute, cagey, cagy, canny, captious, crafty, cunning, designing, insidious, leery, perfidious, shrewd, sleeky, sly, tricky, vulpine, wily). (various references) ingenioso (acute, clever, daedal, daemonic, demonic, ingenious, nifty, politic, resourceful, witty). (various references) listig (clever, crafty, cunning, deep, dodgy, sharp, shifty, sly, tricky, vulpine, wily). (various references) ฉลา" (quick, sage, smart, snell), มีเล่ห์เหลี่ยม (shrewd). (various references) ustalıklı, ustalık gerektiren (skilful, skilled, skillful, virtuosity), sanatlı, kurnaz (arch, astute, cagey, calculating, canny, cattish, catty, coon, crafty, cunning, cute, designing, dodger, dodgy, downy, feline, Fox, foxy, hard boiled, heady, knowing, leery, politic, quirky, roguish, serpentine, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slim, sly, sly old fox, slyboots, smart, subtile, tricky, vulpine, weasel, wheeler dealer, wide awake, wily, wise guy), şeytan (adversary, arch fiend, cloven foot, cloven hoof, crafty, cunning, daemon, demon, devil, fiend, old harry, old nick, prince of darkness, sly, the arch-enemy, the devil, the evil one, the old dragon, the old enemy, the tempter, wily). (various references) зeper (skilled, skillful). (various references) умілий (able, capable, clever, daedal, dedal, efficient, handicraft, industrious, neat, neat-handed, practised, proficient, skilful, skillful, workmanlike), спритний (adroit, agile, alert, arch, canny, cunning, deft, dexterous, dodgy, fly, handy, light fingered, light-handed, natty, nifty, nimble, nimble footed, nimble-fingered, pert, politic, practical, shuffling, slick, tactical, whipping, wide awake, zippy), хитрий (arch, argute, astute, canny, cattish, crafty, cunning, devious, doleful, enterprising, foxy, hard-headed, leery, pawky, shifting, shrewd, sly, tricky, wide, wily), штучний (artificial, factitious, made, made up, man-made, non-natural, synthetic, synthetical), вправний (able, accomplished, adroit, canny, capable, clever, crafty, cunning, deft, good, handy, jemmy, neat, neat-handed, nifty, practised, proficient), меткий (arch, brisk, canny, nimble, saucy). (various references) xảo quyệt (crafty, cunning, designing, machiavellian, politic, politically, slim, tricky). (various references) ystrywgar (crafty, wily), dichellgar (crafty, cunning, wily), cyfrwys (astute, cunning). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | artifex, artificem, artifices, artificesque, artificibus, artificis, artificum, artium. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "artful": artfully, artfulness, artfulnesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "artful": unartful. (additional references) | |
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"Artful" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: artfl, Atafu, Atul, bardful, barnful, Orteuil, Rayful. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "artful" (pronounced Ä"rtful) |
| 4 | -t f u l | boastful, deceitful, delightful, disrespectful, distasteful, distrustful, doubtful, eventful, fateful, fistful, fitful, forgetful, fretful, frightful, fruitful, grateful, hateful, hurtful, insightful, lustful, mistrustful, neglectful, regretful, resentful, respectful, restful, rightful, spiteful, tactful, tasteful, thoughtful, uneventful, ungrateful, wasteful, wistful, zestful. |
| 3 | -f u l | apocryphal, awful, baffle, baleful, bashful, beautiful, blissful, bountiful, careful, cheerful, colorful, disdainful, disgraceful, doleful, dreadful, duffel, dutiful, faithful, falafel, fanciful, fearful, flavorful, forceful, gainful, gleeful, graceful, harmful, healthful, helpful, hopeful, houseful, joyful, kerfuffle, lawful, masterful, meaningful, merciful, mindful, mournful, muffle, needful, painful, panful, peaceful, pitiful, playful, plentiful, powerful, prayerful, purposeful, raffle, remorseful, reshuffle, resourceful, riffle, rifle, rueful, ruffle, scornful, scuffle, shameful, shuffle, sinful, skillful, sorrowful, soulful, stifle, stressful, successful, suspenseful, tearful, thankful, trifle, triumphal, truffle, truthful, tuneful, unfaithful, unhealthful, unhelpful, unlawful, unsuccessful, untruthful, useful, vengeful, waffle, watchful, willful, wishful, woeful, wonderful, worshipful, wrongful, youthful. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-f-l-r-t-u" | |
-1 letter: fault, ultra. | |
-2 letters: farl, fart, flat, frat, furl, raft, tufa, turf. | |
-3 letters: aft, alt, arf, art, far, fat, flu, fur, lar, lat, rat, rut, tar, tau, uta. | |
-4 letters: al, ar, at, fa, la, ta, ut. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-f-l-r-t-u" | |
+1 letter: futural, refutal, tearful, trayful. | |
+2 letters: aflutter, artfully, faultier, filature, fistular, flaunter, grateful, refutals, trainful, trayfuls, unartful, wrathful. | |
+3 letters: defaulter, filatures, flaunters, flauntier, formulate, frugality, fulgurant, fulgurate, masterful, refutable, refutably, tearfully, trainfuls, ultrafast, ultrafine, ultraleft, ultrasafe, ultrasoft. | |
+4 letters: artfulness, defaulters, fluoridate, fluorinate, formulated, formulates, formulator, fraudulent, fulgurated, fulgurates, gratefully, platterful, quatrefoil, ultrafiche, ultramafic, ungrateful, wrathfully. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)41 72 74 66 75 6C |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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| American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)
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| Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)
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| Braille (1829, in France) (references)
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Morse Code (1836) (references).- .-. - ..-. ..- .-.. |
| Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01000001 01110010 01110100 01100110 01110101 01101100 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A r t f u l |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0072 0074 0066 0075 006C |
| British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)
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Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)358486728778 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Translations: Ancient 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Orthography 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
