artless

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adjective art·less \ ˈärt-ləs \

Definition of artless

1 :lacking art, knowledge, or skill :uncultured

an artless brute

2 a :made without skill :crude

an artless attempt to win votes

b :free from artificiality :natural

artless grace

3 :free from guile or craft :sincerely simple

an artless young woman

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artlessly

adverb

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artlessness

noun

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Examples of artless in a Sentence

Her simple artless charm won us over instantly.
a genuine and artless girl

Recent Examples of artless from the Web

The caricature of the artless American, like that of the ambassador, has its basis in truth.

— peter savodnik, The Hive, "How Russia Mercilessly Played Trump for a Fool," 20 July 2017
The musical result is at once direct and accessible, tonal and melodic, sophisticated and artless.

— john von rhein, chicagotribune.com, "Grant Park premiere dances to the joyous Caribbean beat of 'Missa Latina'," 29 June 2017
In reality, these countries are hardly exemplars, as suggested by the American intellectual and pundit class, but rather are flawed places unlikely to displace America’s global leadership, even under the artless Trump.

— joel kotkin, Orange County Register, "Is America now second-rate?," 18 June 2017
At all times, Mr. Lynch’s paintings look breathless, effortless and artless.

— martha schwendener and will heinrich, New York Times, "A Fatigue-Free Guide to Frieze New York," 4 May 2017
Is there any better metaphor in an otherwise artless time?

— richard lawson, Vanities, "Trump’s Dinner with Palin and Friends Is the Perfect Metaphor for Our Times," 21 Apr. 2017

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

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.