Synonyms and Antonyms of artful
1
clever at attaining one's ends by indirect and often deceptive means
- the artful lawyer got the witness to admit he had been lying
beguiling, cagey (also cagy), crafty, cunning, cute, designing, devious, dodgy [chiefly British], foxy, guileful, scheming, shrewd, slick, sly, subtle, tricky, wily
astute, facile, glib, sharp
crooked, deceitful, deceptive, dishonest, fraudulent, insinuating, knavish, Machiavellian, oblique, serpentine, shady, shifty, slippery, sneaky, treacherous, underhand, underhanded, unscrupulous
backhanded, double-dealing, hypocritical, insincere, left-handed, mealy, mealymouthed, smooth-tongued, two-faced
circuitous, circular, roundabout
clandestine, concealed, covert, furtive, hugger-mugger, secret, stealthy, surreptitious, undercover
calculating, plotting
obvious, open, patent, plain, public, unconcealed
aboveboard, candid, direct, forthright, frank, honest, natural, outspoken, plainspoken, real, simple, sincere, straightforward, unaffected, unpretending, unpretentious, unvarnished
childlike, impressionable, simpleminded, unsophisticated, unworldly
unforced, unstudied
trustful, trusting
2
showing a noteworthy use of the imagination and creativity especially in inventing
- that kitchen gadget is an artful tool for extracting cherry pits
adventurous, fresh, groundbreaking, novel, original, visionary
cleverish, gadgety, gimmicky
convenient, handy, neat, nifty, practical, useful
complex, sophisticated
adroit, deft, dexterous (also dextrous), expert, handsome, tricky
brainy, intelligent, sharp, smart
3
accomplished with trained ability
- that was an artful way to handle a very delicate situation
adroit, bravura, deft, delicate, dexterous (also dextrous), expert, masterful, masterly, practiced (also practised), skillful, virtuoso, workmanlike
