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artless

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adjective art·less \ˈärt-ləs\

Definition of artless

  1. 1 :  lacking art, knowledge, or skill :  uncultured an artless brute

  2. 2a :  made without skill :  crude an artless attempt to win votesb :  free from artificiality :  natural artless grace

  3. 3 :  free from guile or craft :  sincerely simple an artless young woman

artlessly

adverb

artlessness

noun

See artless defined for English-language learners

See artless defined for kids

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Examples of artless in a Sentence

  1. Her simple artless charm won us over instantly.

  2. a genuine and artless girl

Recent Examples of artless from the Web

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'artless'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Artless, ingenuous, and naive all refer to freedom from pretension or calculation, but there are subtle differences in their uses. Ingenuous implies an inability to disguise or conceal one's feelings, while naive suggests a credulous lack of worldly wisdom. Artless generally indicates an appearance of utter naturalness, one in which a person is (or seems to be) innocent of the effect of his or her speech or behavior on others.

First Known Use of artless

1586

artless Synonyms

Synonyms
guileless, genuine, honest, ingenuous, innocent, naive (or naïve), natural, real, simple, sincere, true, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious
Antonyms
affected, artful, artificial, assuming, dishonest, dissembling, dissimulating, fake, false, guileful, insincere, phony (also phoney), pretentious
Related Words
childlike, dewy-eyed, gee-whiz, impressionable, inexperienced, malleable, persuadable, persuasible, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly, wide-eyed; spontaneous, unforced, unstudied; candid, direct, frank, free, free-spoken, open, openhearted, plain, plainspoken, single-minded, straight, straightforward, unguarded; trustful, trusting; exploitable, gullible (also gullable), susceptible, unwary
Near Antonyms
critical, cynical, mistrustful, skeptical, suspicious, wary; cosmopolitan, sophisticated, worldly, worldly-wise; civilized, cultivated, cultured, polished, refined; crooked, deceitful, deceptive, devious, double-dealing, hypocritical, manipulative, two-faced; arch, calculating, canny, crafty, cunning, designing, foxy, knavish, scheming, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slippery, sly, subtle, tricky, underhanded, wily; flattering, mealymouthed, smooth, sycophantic, unctuous; feigned, forced, strained

Synonym Discussion of artless

natural, ingenuous, naive, unsophisticated, artless mean free from pretension or calculation. natural implies lacking artificiality and self-consciousness and having a spontaneousness suggesting the natural rather than the man-made world. her unaffected, natural manner ingenuous implies inability to disguise or conceal one's feelings or intentions. the ingenuous enthusiasm of children naive suggests lack of worldly wisdom often connoting credulousness and unchecked innocence. politically naive unsophisticated implies a lack of experience and training necessary for social ease and adroitness. unsophisticated adolescents artless suggests a naturalness resulting from unawareness of the effect one is producing on others. artless charm

ARTLESS Defined for English Language Learners

artless

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adjective

Definition of artless for English Language Learners

  • : not false or artificial

Learn More about artless

  1. See words that rhyme with artless Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for artless Spanish Central: Translation of artless Nglish: Translation of artless for Spanish speakers

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Examples: artless in a Sentence
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Tip: Synonym Guide