artfulness

artfulness

noun

Definition of ARTFULNESS

1

skill in achieving one's ends through indirect, subtle, or underhanded means <with well-practiced artfulness, he convinced his mother he was sick enough to stay home from school but not sick enough for a visit to the doctor's office>

Synonyms artfulness, artifice, caginess (also cageyness), canniness, craft, craftiness, cunningness, deviousness, foxiness, guile, guilefulness, slickness, slyness, sneakiness, subtleness, subtlety, wiliness

Related Words calculation, care, design; savvy, sharpness, shrewdness; cleverness, ingeniousness, ingenuity, inventiveness; ease, facility, finesse; deceitfulness, duplicity, shiftiness, underhandedness

2

subtle or imaginative ability in inventing, devising, or executing something <building a ship model requires a painstaking artfulness I don't have>

Synonyms adeptness, adroitness, art, artfulness, artifice, artistry, cleverness, craft, cunning, deftness, masterfulness, skillfulness

Related Words dexterity, ease, finesse, handiness; experience, expertise, expertness, know-how, proficiency; creativity, ingenuity, inventiveness, knowledge, learning; aptitude, bent, flair, gift, knack, talent

Near Antonyms amateurishness, awkwardness, clumsiness, crudeness, klutziness, rudeness; inability, inadequacy, inadequateness, incapability, incapacity, incompetence, ineffectiveness, ineffectuality, ineffectualness, inefficacy, inefficiency

Antonyms artlessness, ineptitude, ineptness, maladroitness