artful

1 clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means <the artful lawyer got the witness to admit he had been lying> Synonyms beguiling, cagey (also cagy), crafty, cunning, cute, designing, devious, dodgy [chiefly British], foxy, guileful, scheming, shrewd, slick, sly, subtle, tricky, wily Related Words astute, facile, glib, sharp; crooked, deceitful, deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, insinuating, knavish, Machiavellian, oblique, serpentine, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaky, treacherous, underhand, underhanded, unscrupulous; backhanded, double-dealing, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, smooth-tongued, two-faced; circuitous, circular, roundabout; clandestine, concealed, covert, furtive, hugger-mugger, secret, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover; calculating, plotting Near Antonyms obvious, open, patent, plain, public, unconcealed; aboveboard, candid, direct, forthright, frank, honest, natural, outspoken, plainspoken, real, simple, sincere, straightforward, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious, unvarnished; childlike, impressionable, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly; unforced, unstudied; trustful, trusting Antonyms artless, guileless, ingenuous, innocent, undesigning

2 showing a noteworthy use of the imagination and creativity especially in inventing <that kitchen gadget is an artful tool for extracting cherry pits> Synonyms clever, creative, imaginative, ingenious, innovative, inventiveRelated Words adventurous, fresh, groundbreaking, novel, original, visionary; cleverish, gadgety, gimmicky; convenient, handy, neat, nifty, practical, useful; complex, sophisticated; adroit, deft, dexterous (also dextrous), expert, handsome, tricky; brainy, intelligent, sharp, smartNear Antonyms dull, pedantic, pedestrian, stodgy; assembly-line, canned, cookie-cutter, derivative, hackneyed, unoriginal; impractical, uselessAntonyms uncreative, unimaginative

3 accomplished with trained ability <that was an artful way to handle a very delicate situation> Synonyms adroit, skillful, bravura, deft, delicate, dexterous (also dextrous), expert, masterful, masterly, practiced (also practised), virtuoso, workmanlikeRelated Words facile, smooth; artistic, creative, fancy, ingenious, neat; adept, clever, cunning; able, adequate, capable, competentNear Antonyms awkward, clumsy, crude, klutzy; ineffective, ineffectual; incompetent, ineptAntonyms amateur, amateurish, artless, rude, unprofessional, unskillful