Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use artful in a sentence

14 example sentences · adjective

Artful means characterized by, or performed with, cleverness or contrivance; clever, ingenious. Example: “But now he was little more than a whimpering oyster led to be devoured on the sands of a Southern sea by the artful walrus, Circumstance, and the implacable carpenter, Fate.”

Examples of artful by meaning

adjectiveSkilful at using dishonest or unfair means to achieve a purpose; crafty, cunning.

  • But now he was little more than a whimpering oyster led to be devoured on the sands of a Southern sea by the artful walrus, Circumstance, and the implacable carpenter, Fate.1904 November, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Remnants of the Code”, in Cabbages and Kings, New York, N.Y.: McClure...

More sentences with artful

  • Suing his employer for negligence rather than for violation of the Federal Employers Liability Act was an artful pleading, and the defendant properly removed the proceedings to federal district court.From the entry artful pleading
  • Perfect little con man and artful dodger, always on the make for some angle or another.2011, P. T. Deutermann, The Edge of Honor, →ISBN, page 183. From the entry artful dodger
  • I could see the traps and landmines ahead and avoid them, a real artful dodger.2005, Jim Cherry, The Last Stage, →ISBN, page 81. From the entry artful dodger
  • Artful play is where you find and live it, like the bird against the contrary winds.1993 winter, Kingsley Widmer, “Anarchist Aesthetics: A Few Notes Towards a Libertarian View of the Arts”, in Anarchy: A Journal of Desire…. From the entry counteringly
  • The Scandinavian restaurant Aquavit in New York has seven artful smorrebrods on its menu.1988, The New York Times Magazine, page 79. From the entry smorrebrod
  • Under the jolly makeup and the artful padding, his mouth was shockingly twisted, and tears were running out of his eyes.1955 December, Alice Eleanor Jones, “The Happy Clown”, in James L[ouis] Quinn, editor, If: Worlds of Science Fiction, volume 6, number 1…. From the entry clothesies
  • He's that artful, lawyers couldn't manage him.'1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding. From the entry smart as paint
  • The tide left curving trails of things, pickled-looking viney plants, luminous stones, and branches gnarled in artful shapes and blunted by the sea.2017, Jeannie Troll, A Clever Girl, book one, New York, N.Y.: Page Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 40. From the entry viney
  • After Sam filled in my big block letters with the glitter, he unleashed his inner Jackson Pollock, wanging artful paint splatters everywhere.2009, Mark Millhone, “Saltville”, in The Patron Saint of Used Cars and Second Chances: A Memoir, Rodale, →ISBN, page 132. From the entry wang
  • The young white laptopped middle classes have come to Balham with their artful casuals and polite terror of the remaining browns and blacks.2007, Glen Duncan, The Bloodstone Papers, page 34. From the entry laptopped
  • All that and more is cleverly and meticulously wedded to inventive music and rhythms, a unique blend of spritely intelligence and artful craftsmanship.1991 December 1, Rudy Grillo, “Who's The Top?”, in Gay Community News, volume 19, number 20, page 8. From the entry spritely
  • Yet the reality in Japan was far more gruesome than the artful depiction in the film, which skirts around the human suffering caused by the bomb.2023 July 21, Rachel Hall, “Anti-nuclear groups welcome Oppenheimer film but say it fails to depict true horror”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry skirt around
  • Manners that, if he played artful, he might even now obtain the position of outside porter; you got no pay there, but you could gain a moderate competency by fluffing.1900, The Railway Magazine, volume 7, page 559. From the entry fluff

Meaning of artful

  1. adjective Characterized by, or performed with, cleverness or contrivance; clever, ingenious.
  2. adjective Not naturally produced; artificial; imitative.
  3. adjective Exhibiting or using much art or skill; dexterous; skilful.

Full definition of artful

Questions about artful in a sentence

How do you use artful in a sentence?
Artful is used as an adjective. For example: “But now he was little more than a whimpering oyster led to be devoured on the sands of a Southern sea by the artful walrus, Circumstance, and the implacable carpenter, Fate.”
What is a short sentence with artful?
“He's that artful, lawyers couldn't manage him.'”
What does artful mean?
Artful means characterized by, or performed with, cleverness or contrivance; clever, ingenious.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: artful (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use artful in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/artful. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.