ARTFULNESS Synonyms: 80 Similar and Opposite Words

artfulness

noun

as in cunning

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

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as in skill

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of artfulness Mike Bowman, designer, furniture industry expert, and director of marketing for Harmonia Living, says this trend relies on furnishings to bring artfulness to a space—rather than just functionality. —

Patricia Shannon, Better Homes & Gardens, 10 Jan. 2026 There is a real seriousness to the score — the scheming bad-guy music has the artfulness of Prokofiev, and even the sneaking-around cues have musical integrity and structure. —

Tim Greiving, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025 All things considered, each of the couple’s selections exudes artfulness — prioritizing top-quality design and materials meant to last a lifetime. —

Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019

Recent Examples of Synonyms for artfulness

Noun

Maybe the mere fact of having been born illustrious, with no apparent faults, with nothing to prove or to be ashamed of, had liberated John from the resentments the rest of us feel, and from the cunning and ambition such resentments fuel.

— Jeffrey Eugenides, New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2026
The Brazil international combines technical craft with a decisive cunning.

— Carl Anka, New York Times, 21 Mar. 2026