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Synonym Chooser

How is the word artless different from other adjectives like it?

Some common synonyms of artless are ingenuous, naive, natural, and unsophisticated. While all these words mean "free from pretension or calculation," artless suggests a naturalness resulting from unawareness of the effect one is producing on others.

artless charm

When is it sensible to use ingenuous instead of artless?

While the synonyms ingenuous and artless are close in meaning, ingenuous implies inability to disguise or conceal one's feelings or intentions.

the ingenuous enthusiasm of children

When would naive be a good substitute for artless?

Although the words naive and artless have much in common, naive suggests lack of worldly wisdom often connoting credulousness and unchecked innocence.

politically naive

Where would natural be a reasonable alternative to artless?

While in some cases nearly identical to artless, natural implies lacking artificiality and self-consciousness and having a spontaneousness suggesting the natural rather than the man-made world.

her unaffected, natural manner

When might unsophisticated be a better fit than artless?

The synonyms unsophisticated and artless are sometimes interchangeable, but unsophisticated implies a lack of experience and training necessary for social ease and adroitness.

unsophisticated adolescents

Examples of artless in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web His pictures look perfectly artless, the opposite of the decisive moment and the epitome of the snapshot aesthetic. Vince Aletti, The New Yorker, 29 Jan. 2024 Cosentino has a rich, burly voice that’s unpretentious without feeling artless. Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, 31 July 2023 On some slow or rainy day, when the tennis at Wimbledon is banging and artless as a metronome or suspended by weather, do yourself a favor. Sally Jenkins, Anchorage Daily News, 3 July 2023 But where scenes set in the past take care to flesh out the characters beyond their present predicaments — with, for instance, frequent flashbacks to formative moments from Edwin and Clive’s childhood — the present-day sequences feel artless in their singlemindedness. Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Apr. 2023 See all Example Sentences for artless 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'artless.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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Cite this Entry

“Artless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/artless. Accessed 22 Oct. 2024.

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