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unartful

unartful

1 7.4
Has little skill and looks clumsy
  • adjective
  • /ˌʌnˈɑrtfəl/
translation icon : torpe
  • But on reconsideration, it appeared that the antique also harbored something answering to the idea of baroque, with the consequence that the terms of the antithesis had to be qualified, and it was necessary to introduce an unartful distinction between classical classicism and classical baroque.

Examples

  • Yet he was never just an uninvolved, unartful recorder, which he has been described as being, like a video camera, a disciple of the Goncourts.

    Academic text (1997)
  • His reply was so unartful that it made everyone in the room uncomfortable.

  • The artist's unartful attempts at humor fell flat during the presentation.

  • Her unartful explanation left the audience puzzled and confused.

Synonyms

incompetent
vsunartful
141 4.9

Not able to do a job or task well

refers to poor manner or execution rather than lacking qualification
inept
vsunartful
49 5.0

Not good at something and often clumsy

is about missing artful cleverness more than crude clumsiness
unskilled
vsunartful
6 2.9

Having no ability or training to do something well

concerns poor manner or lack of cleverness rather than missing credentials
unskillful
vsunartful
1 4.4

Not able to do something well

emphasizes lack of clever or artful manner rather than just poor finish
artless
vsunartful
6.7

Not made or done skillfully

highlights absence of cleverness or craft in execution

Antonyms

34 2.8

Good at doing something because of practice and careful control

20 6.9

Clever in a sly or secret way to hide what you really mean

How Artful

masterful
33 5.3
skillful
34 2.8
artful
20 6.9
unartful
1 7.4
clumsy
73 1.2

Surface Forms

unartful positive
unartfuller comparative
unartfullest superlative

Morphology

unartful = artful (transparent) = un + art + ful

The adjective is formed by adding the productive negative prefix 'un-' to the familiar adjective 'artful', so the negated meaning is directly inferable.

Etymology

Unartful comes from the prefix un- meaning 'not' and artful, made from art meaning 'skill', as in artist. So unartful means 'not skillful' or 'not clever' in how something is done.