artful
Skilled at scheming
Artful means crafty or cunning, showing skill in achieving one's ends through indirect or deceptive means: an artful dodge, artful manipulation.
The word carries a whiff of trickery—Dickens's Artful Dodger was a skilled pickpocket.
But artful can also mean simply skillful or showing art: an artful arrangement of flowers, artful prose.
Context determines whether the skill is admirable or suspect.
Crafty and calculating
- connivingSecretly planning wrongdoing
- deviousUnderhanded and calculating
- calculatingColdly self-serving in strategy
- guilefulInclined toward deception
wily · sly · crafty · manipulative · duplicitous · underhanded · sneaky · deceitful
Cleverly original in design
- shrewdPractically clever, perceptive
- astuteMentally sharp, discerning
- cannyShrewdly practical and cautious
- smartMentally quick, or fashionable
witty · sharp · keen · savvy · quick-witted · perceptive · resourceful · adroit
Highly skilled and authoritative
- dexterousPhysically skilled, agile
- adeptHighly capable, well-versed
- accomplishedHighly skilled, expert
- polishedSmooth, refined, accomplished
skilled · proficient · expert · talented · practiced · precise · nimble · finesse
Able to conceive new ideas
- innovativeIntroducing new ideas
- originalFirst or inventive
- inventiveShowing original thought
- expressiveShowing feelings outwardly
inspired · visionary · avant-garde · unconventional · whimsical · experimental · conceptual · aesthetic
scheming
Crafty and calculating
- connivingSecretly planning wrongdoing
- deviousUnderhanded and calculating
- calculatingColdly self-serving in strategy
guileful · wily · sly · crafty · manipulative · duplicitous · underhanded · sneaky · deceitful · disingenuous
ingenious
Cleverly original in design
- shrewdPractically clever, perceptive
- astuteMentally sharp, discerning
- cannyShrewdly practical and cautious
smart · witty · sharp · keen · savvy · quick-witted · perceptive · resourceful · adroit · strategic
masterful
Highly skilled and authoritative
- dexterousPhysically skilled, agile
- adeptHighly capable, well-versed
- accomplishedHighly skilled, expert
polished · skilled · proficient · expert · talented · practiced · precise · nimble · finesse · competent
imaginative
Able to conceive new ideas
- innovativeIntroducing new ideas
- originalFirst or inventive
- inventiveShowing original thought
expressive · inspired · visionary · avant-garde · unconventional · whimsical · experimental · conceptual · aesthetic · compositional
- cunningcunning, craftiness, crafty, guile, slyness
- skill levelsbeginner, novice, intermediate, expert, advanced
- Smartsintelligent, genius, smart, gifted, brilliant
- worldlyworldly, cosmopolitan, globe-trotter, globetrotter, world traveler
artfulguileless
Free from deceit
artless · ingenuous · straightforward · sincere · honest
artfulnaive
Innocently unsuspecting
innocent · unsophisticated · unworldly · simpleminded · impressionable