Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Artless |
ArtlessAdjective1. Characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not devious; "an ingenuous admission of responsibility". 2. Simple and natural; without cunning or deceit; "an artless manner"; "artless elegance". 3. Showing lack of art; "an artless translation". 4. (of persons) lacking art or knowledge. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "artless" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
Synonyms: ArtlessSynonyms: ingenuous (adj), uncultivated (adj), uncultured (adj). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: artful (adj), disingenuous (adj). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Artlessness | Verb: be artless; adj; look one in the face; wear one's heart upon his sleeves for daws to peck at; think aloud; speak out, speak one's mind; be free with one, call a spade a spade. |
Adjective: artless, natural, pure, native, confiding, simple, lain, inartificial, untutored, unsophisticated, ingenu, unaffected, naive; sincere, frank; open, open as day; candid, ingenuous, guileless; unsuspicious, honest; innocent; Arcadian; undesigning, straightforward, unreserved, aboveboard; simple-minded, single-minded; frank-hearted, open-hearted, single-hearted, simple-hearted. | |
Discourtesy | Untactful, impolitic, undiplomatic; artless; |
Innocence | Adjective: innocent, not guilty; unguilty; guiltless, faultless, sinless, stainless, bloodless, spotless; clear, immaculate; rectus in curia; unspotted, unblemished, unerring; undefiled; unhardened, Saturnian; Arcadian; (artless). |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Artless |
| English words defined with "artless": Idyl, Inartificial, Incony, ingenue ♦ Open vowel ♦ Plain speaking, Plain-dealing, Plain-hearted ♦ Rustic work ♦ Simple obligation ♦ Unartful, Undesigning. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "artless": Imogen ♦ limb. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | It was still only an artless astonishment, but a sort of blind confidence was associated with it. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | LIMB, n. The branch of a tree or the leg of an American woman. 'Twas a pair of boots that the lady bought, And the salesman laced them tight To a very remarkable height -- Higher, indeed, than I think he ought -- Higher than can be right. For the Bible declares -- but never mind: It is hardly fit To censure freely and fault to find With others for sins that I'm not inclined Myself to commit. Each has his weakness, and though my own Is freedom from every sin, It still were unfair to pitch in, Discharging the first censorious stone. Besides, the truth compels me to say, The boots in question were made that way. As he drew the lace she made a grimace, And blushingly said to him: "This boot, I'm sure, is too high to endure, It hurts my -- hurts my -- limb." The salesman smiled in a manner mild, Like an artless, undesigning child; Then, checking himself, to his face he gave A look as sorrowful as the grave, Though he didn't care two figs For her paints and throes, As he stroked her toes, Remarking with speech and manner just Befitting his calling: "Madam, I trust That it doesn't hurt your twigs." B. Percival Dike |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Artless" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Artless" is used about 31 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) | 100% | 31 | 62,296 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Language | Translations for "artless"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | i thjeshtë (abecedarian, austere, bare, chaste, childlike, common, easy, elementary, enlisted, folksy, foolproof, Hick, home-bred, homely, homespun, humble, inelaborate, informal, ingenuous, inornate, mere, modest, native, natural, neat, not mingled, onefold, ordinary, plain, prime, primitive, private, pure, quotidian, rude, russet, rustic, simple, unaffected, unassuming, unceremonious, unpretending, unpretentious, unsophisticated, very), i rëndë (arduous, awkward, bad, bulky, burdensome, cubbish, cumbersome, cumbrous, dead, difficile, elephantine, grave, grievous, grinding, hard, heavy, hefty, incondite, knock about, leaden, lumping, massive, oafish, onerous, peremptory, plodding, ponderous, portly, serious, set up, severe, solemn, stertorous, stodgy, tricky, unwieldy, wakeless, weighty), i pamësuar (inexpert, raw, unaccustomed, uncustomary, undisciplined, unfamiliar, unlearned, unlettered, unused), i pagdhendur (bearish, crass, Hick, hillbilly, loutish, lowlife, oafish, raffish, rank, rough, uncouth, unhewn), i padjallëzuar (guileless, innocent, naïve, sincere), i natyrshëm (inartificial, inborn, inbred, matter of course, native, natural, unstudied), i çiltër (candid, direct, downright, forthright, genuine, guileless, heartfelt, heart-to-heart, heart-whole, hearty, innocent, open, open-hearted, plain, plain spoken, simple-hearted, sincere, straight, straightforward, truthful, unaffected, unsophisticated, wholehearted). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | غير بارع (amateurish, bungling, clumsy, inapt, inferior, profane, unskilful, unskilled, unworkmanlike), غر (calf's, callow, child, decoy, half-witted, inexperienced, naive, raw, rude, stranger, unskilled, young), ساذج (credulous, drip, gaga, gimp, green, guileless, gullible, honest, ingenuous, innocent, mug, naive, ninny, oafish, pastoral, patsy, platitudinous, primitive, provincial, silly, simple, unsophisticated, untutored, unworldly), جاهل (benighted, blockhead, ignorant, illiterate, innocent, nescient, primitive, raw, rude, simple, unaware, unlettered, untaught), برئ (angelic, blameless, clear, guileless, guiltless, harmless, honest, inculpable, ingenuous, innocent, naive, pure, simple, starry eyed, white). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | несръчно изработен, невинен (blameless, clean-handed, guileless, guiltless, innocent, irreproachable, sinless, unblamable, unoffending, unsophisticated, virginal, white, white-handed, wide-eyed), непринуден (affable, childlike, easy, familiar, free, go-as-you-please, informal, rustic, simple, spontaneous, unconstrained, unlabored, unlaboured, unpretending, unpretentious, unstarched, unstrained, unstudied, unstuffy), непохватен (awkward, bumbling, chuckle, clumsy, gawky, heavy, lubberly, two-fisted, uncouth, ungainly, unhandy, unskilful), наивен (fond, green, guileless, gullible, ingenuous, jejune, naпve, naif, silly, simple, undesigning, unsophisticated, untutored, unworldly, wide-eyed), естествен (honorary, ingenuous, innate, living, matter of course, native, natural, simple, spontaneous, unceremonious, uncoined, unpretending, unschooled, unsophisticated, unstarched, unstrained, untaught, untutored), прост (abc, childlike, common, commonplace, easy, elemental, elementary, funky, grave, homelike, homespun, humble, illiberal, low, native, onefold, open and shut, ordinary, plain, prime, primitive, rugged, rustic, simple, sleazy, straight, straightforward, uncomplicated, unpretentious, vulgar). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chinese | 天真 (innocent, naive). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech | nelíèený (genuine, unconcealed), bezelstný (dewy-eyed, guileless, ingenuous, innocent, naïve, simple minded, unworldly). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finnish | teeskentelemätön (sincere, unaffected, unfeigned), koruton (simple, unaffected), koristelematon (natural, unaffected). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | naïf, ingénu, ignorant. (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | natürlich (certainly, elemental, inbuilt, natural, naturally, of course, physical, simple, unadorned, unaffected, unaffectedly, unforced, unpretentious, unpretentiously, unsophisticated, unstudied, unstudiedly, untaught). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | άτεχνοσ (awkward, coarse, crude, inartistic, splay), αφελήσ (ingenuous, naοve, naif, simple, simpleminded). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hebrew | תם (honest, ingenuous, innocent, naןve, simple). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | mûvészietlen (inartistic). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Indonesian | alamiah (concerned with nature), tak berseni, sederhana (austere, frugal, homely, humble, plain, simple, temperate, unostentatious, unpretentious), kasar (abrupt, abusive, blunt, boorish, broad, brutal, brutish, crass, crude, curt, disrespectful, gruff, menial, raw, rude, unkind, vulgar). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | semplice (easy, greenly, homely, ingenuous, mere, modest, modeste, naive, ordinary, plain, rustic, simple, simpleminded, simply, single, straightforward, unaffected, unit), ingenuo (brainless, childlike, guileless, gullible, ingenue, ingenuous, naïve, naive, oafish, simple minded). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Kanji | 無技巧 (simple), 初々しい (innocent, unsophisticated), 初初しい (innocent, unsophisticated). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Japanese Katakana | ういういしい (innocent, unsophisticated), むぎ"う (simple). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | oney (harmless, honest, innocent, innocuous, morally uncorrupted, simple, well-meant), neuellynagh (bad taste, ill-mannered, impolite, inartistic, rude, vulgar). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | artlessay vulgar (accepted, banal, blanket, coarse, common, commonplace, demotic, dismal, earthy, everyday, gossipy, gross, hackney, hackneyed, humdrum, inelaborate, low, low-minded, mediocre, ordinary, pedestrian, penny-a-line, platitudinarian, platitudinous, prosaic, quotidian, ready-made, soulless, trite, trivial, undistinguished, uninspired, unladylike, unoriginal, usual, vulgar, vulgarian), sincero (candid, convinced, cordial, deep, direct, downright, dyed-in-the, earnest, frank, freehearted, guileless, heartfelt, hearty, honest, ingenuous, open-hearted, outright, outspoken, plain, plainspoken, simple, simple-hearted, sincere, single-hearted, straight, straightforward, strong, true, true-hearted, unaffected, undisguised, unfeigned, unvarnished, whole-hearted, whole-souled), simples (chaste, classic, classical, convenient, easy, frugal, green, guileless, homely, homespun, humble, ingenuous, innocent, inornate, matter-of-course, mere, modest, natural, onefold, outage, plain, primary, pure, regular, self-effacing, sheer, shirt-sleeve, simple, simple-hearted, single, singles, smattering, soft, sole, solitary, straightforward, unaffected, unassuming, unlaboured, unostentatious, unsophisticated, unvarnished, unworldly), natural (apparent, breathing, flowing, genuine, glib, inartificial, inbred, innate, lifelike, matter-of-course, native, natural, normal, outage, physical, plain, shirt-sleeve, spontaneous, unaffected, unconstrained, unlaboured, unsophisticated, unstrained, unstudied, untaught, unvarnished), inexperiente (callow, fresh, green, half-baked, inexperienced, muff, outage, raw, shirt-sleeve, sucking, unpractised, unskilful, unskilled, unsophisticated, untrained, verdant, young), ignorante (benighted, dunce, heathen, ignoramus, ignorant, know-nothing, letterless, nescient, unacquainted, unaware, unconscious, uneducated, unenlightened, uninformed, unintelligent, unlearned, unlettered, unnurtured, unposted, unschooled, untaught, untutored, unversed). (various references) stângaci (awkward, awkwardly, bearish, clumsy, gawky, hulking, left handed, left-handed man, loose, lubber, lubberly, lumpish, maladroit, numb hand, splay, uncouth, uncouthly, ungainly, unskilful, unskilfully, unwieldy), sincer (above board, authentic, blunt, candid, candidly, childlike, devout, downright, fair, forthright, Frank, frankly, freehearted, free-spoken, genuine, guileless, heartfelt, heart-whole, hearty, honest, honestly, ingenuous, kind, open, open-hearted, outright, outspoken, overt, plain, plainly, right-down, round, sincere, single, straight, straightforward, true, truly, truthful, undisguised, unfeigned, unpretending, unreserved, well-meant), simplu (agrestic, austere, average, bald, bare, common, easy, elementary, grave, home-bred, homely, homespun, humble, humbly, mere, modest, natural, neat, patriarchal, plain, plainly, primitive, pure, quiet, ready, russet, segregate, simple, simple minded, simply, single, singular, soft-headed, straight, straightforward, unaffected, unassuming, undisguised, unpretending, unpretentious, unsophisticated, unvarnished), necomplicat, naiv (credulous, deceivable, dupable, dupe, green, gull, gullible, naïve, naif, puerile, silly, simple minded, simpleton, sincere, verdant), lipsit de artã, ingenuu (ingenuous), greoi (bearish, dull, elephantine, gawky, heavy, hulking, lubberly, lumpish, massy, ponderous, slow, stodgy, stolid, ungainly, ungraceful, unwieldy, weighty), deschis (above board, avowedly, bald, baldly, barefaced, barely, blunt, broad, direct, downright, flatly, forthright, Frank, frankly, freehearted, free-spoken, guileless, light, naked, open, openly, outright, outspoken, overt, overtly, pale, patent, plainly, raw, round, roundly, sincere, Square, straight, straightforward, unfeigned, unreserved). (various references) неискусный (inartful, inexpert, unartful, unskilful, unskillful), бесхитростный (ingenuous, shiftless, simpleminded), простодушный (guileless, ingenuous, naпve, onefold, one-fold, simple-hearted). (various references) simplidh (singlehearted). (various references) prirodan (lively, native, natural), naivan (dupable, ingenuous, naďve, naif, starry eyed), bezazlen (childish, guileless, harmless, ingenuous, innocent, laudable, naďve, simplehearted, simple-hearted, unoffending, unsuspecting). (various references) torpe del nacimiento (bungling, coarse, gauche, maladroit), simple (a b c, a.b.c., abc, bare, mere, plain, simple, simple minded, single, straightforward), inculto (illiterate, rough, rough spoken, rude, uncultivated, unrefined), cándido (guileless, gullible, innocent, inoffensive, naïve, snow white). (various references) okonstlad (ingenuous, inornate, jejune, natural, simple, unaffected, unsophisticated). (various references) sanatsız, saf (absolute, all, candid, clean, clear, country bumpkin, credulous, deceivable, dewy-eyed, distilled, dupe, elemental, elementary, entire, facile, fine, genuine, greenhorn, gudgeon, guileless, gull, gullible, harmless, homespun, honest, immaculate, ingenuous, innocent, juggins, mere, naïve, pigeon, pristine, pure, pure-minded, rank, raw, real, refined, simple, simple minded, simple simon, simple-hearted, sterling, unadulterated, unalloyed, unblended, uncontaminated, undiluted, unmixed, unsophisticated, unsuspicious, untutored, unworldly, witless), sade (austere, bald, bare, chaste, frugal, frugally, homely, homespun, just, mere, merely, only, plain, pure, rustic, severe, simple, simplificative, sober, stark, unadorned, unmixed, unsophisticated), hünersiz, doğal (connatural, easy, free, inartificial, inborn, inbred, indigenous, ingenuous, inherent, innate, native, natural, spontaneous, unaffected, unschooled, unsophisticated, unstudied). (various references) gцwnaзyk (open-hearted). (various references) грубий (abrupt, barbaresque, barbaric, base, bearish, boarish, broad, brusque, brute, caddish, chuffy, churlish, clownish, clumsy, coarse, coarse grained, crass, crude, gross, hard boiled, homely, ill bred, knockabout, offhand, plebeian, primitive, ribald, rough, rough spoken, rude, scratchy, shaggy, surly, swinish, truculent, uncouth), невмілий (blundering, botchy, bungling, fumbling, handless, ineffective, inept, inexpert, unskilful, unskilled), незграбний (angular, awkward, blundering, bouncing, bovine, clumsy, cubbish, cumbersome, fumbling, gangling, gauche, gawky, gnarled, graceless, ham-fisted, hulking, lob, lubberly, maladroit, oafish, shamble, splay, splayfooted, uncouth, ungainly, unskilful, wooden), наївний (babyish, innocent, naпve, unsophisticated), простодушний (guileless, onefold, shiftless, simple-hearted, untutored), простий (austere, babyish, bald, bare, childlike, mere, onefold, ordinary, plain, primary, prime, run of the mill, shirt-sleeve, simple, stateless, straightforward, unaffected, unartful, unceremonious, unsophisticated), природний (careless, connatural, elemental, inbred, indigenous, matter of course, native, natural, physic, radical, unartful, unlabored, unlaboured, untaught, untutored). (various references) vụng (clumsy, unhandy, unskilful, unworkmanlike), tự nhiên (hair, natively, nature, off-hand, off-handed, secundum naturam, unvarnished), không giả tạo ngây thơ, chất phác không có mỹ thuật; không khéo, chân thật (bluff, genuine, heart-whole, hearty, onefold, open-hearted, right-minded, round, simple-minded, single-hearded). (various references) disyml (ingenuous, simple). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "artless": artlessly, artlessness, artlessnesses. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "artless": heartless, wartless. (additional references) | |
Words containing "artless": heartlessly, heartlessness, heartlessnesses. (additional references) | |
| |
"Artless" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: antless, Antliss, argles, argleses, artel, artels, artles, Astles, Bartles, cartless, dartles, Hartless, Martles, ratless, Rayless. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "artless" (pronounced 'Art"less'): Actless, Ageless, Aidless, Aimless, Airless, Aisless, Approachless, Armless, Assistless, Avoidless, Awless, Awnless, Backless, Badgeless, Barkless, Baseless, Bashless, Bateless, Beamless, Beardless, Birthless, Bitless, Blameless, Blissless, Bloodless, Bloomless, Blotless, Blushless, Boastless, Boneless, Bookless, Bootless, Boteless, Boundless, Bournless, Bowless, Bractless, Bragless, Brainless, Branchless, Breadless, Breadthless, Breathless, Breezeless, Bribeless, Bridgeless, Briefless, Brimless, Browless, Bushless. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: lasters, salters, slaters. | |
| Words within the letters "a-e-l-r-s-s-t" | |
-1 letter: alerts, alters, artels, assert, asters, estral, lasers, laster, leasts, rassle, ratels, salter, slater, slates, staler, stales, stares, steals, stelar, talers, tassel, teslas. | |
-2 letters: alert, alter, arles, arses, artel, asset, aster, earls, easts, lares, laser, lases, lasts, later, lears, least, rales, rases, ratel, rates, reals, rests, sales, salts, sates, seals, sears, seats, seral. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-e-l-r-s-s-t" | |
+1 letter: blasters, harslets, lamsters, persalts, plasters, psalters, realists, reslates, salterns, saltiers, saltires, saluters, scarlets, slathers, stablers, stalkers, staplers, starless, starlets, startles, stealers, tearless, tramless, warstles, wartless, wastrels, wrastles. | |
+2 letters: alertness, arbalests, arbelests, artlessly, assaulter, australes, balusters, desalters, heartless, lamisters, lodestars, lustrates, maltsters, misalters, oleasters, oversalts, palestras, pilasters, plaisters, polestars, psaltries, resalutes, restorals, saleratus, semestral, serialist, slatterns, snarliest, splatters, sprattles, startlers, staumrels, storables, straddles, straggles, strangles, strapless, teaselers, traceless, trackless, trailless, treadless, warstlers, waterless. | |
| 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 6C 65 73 73 |
| 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 01101100 01100101 01110011 01110011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)A r t l e s s |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0041 0072 0074 006C 0065 0073 0073 |
| 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)35848678718585 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Quotations: Fiction 6. Quotations: Non-fiction 7. Usage Frequency 8. Translations: Modern | 9. Derivations 10. Rhymes 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.