art·less

(ärt′lĭs)

adj.

1. Having or displaying no guile or deceit; honest or sincere: an artless child. See Synonyms at naive.

2. Free of artificiality; natural: artless charm.

3. Lacking art, knowledge, or skill; uncultured and ignorant.

4. Poorly made or done; crude.

art′less·ly adv.

art′less·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

artless

(ˈɑːtlɪs)

adj

1. free from deceit, guile, or artfulness; ingenuous: an artless remark.

2. natural, without artifice; unpretentious: artless elegance.

3. without art or skill

ˈartlessly adv

ˈartlessness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

art•less

(ˈɑrt lɪs)

adj.

1. free from deceit, cunning, or craftiness; ingenuous.

2. not artificial; natural; simple: artless beauty.

3. lacking art, knowledge, or skill.

4. poorly made; clumsy.

[1580–90]

art′less•ly, adv.

art′less•ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adj.	1.	artless - characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not devious; "an ingenuous admission of responsibility" ingenuous sincere - open and genuine; not deceitful; "he was a good man, decent and sincere"; "felt sincere regret that they were leaving"; "sincere friendship" naif, naive - marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience; "a teenager's naive ignorance of life"; "the naive assumption that things can only get better"; "this naive simple creature with wide friendly eyes so eager to believe appearances"
	2.	artless - simple and natural; without cunning or deceit; "an artless manner"; "artless elegance" natural - in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature; "a very natural development"; "our natural environment"; "natural science"; "natural resources"; "natural cliffs"; "natural phenomena" artful - marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft; "the artful dodger"; "an artful choice of metaphors"
	3.	artless - showing lack of art; "an artless translation" unskilled - not having or showing or requiring special skill or proficiency; "unskilled in the art of rhetoric"; "an enthusiastic but unskillful mountain climber"; "unskilled labor"; "workers in unskilled occupations are finding fewer and fewer job opportunities"; "unskilled workmanship"
	4.	artless - (of persons) lacking art or knowledge uncultured, uncultivated unrefined - (used of persons and their behavior) not refined; uncouth; "how can a refined girl be drawn to such an unrefined man?"

artless

adjective

1. natural, simple, fair, frank, plain, pure, open, round, true, direct, genuine, humble, straightforward, sincere, honest, candid, unaffected, upfront (informal), unpretentious, unadorned, dinkum (Austral & N.Z. informal), guileless, uncontrived, undesigning his artless air and charming smile
natural affected, artificial, unnatural

2. unskilled, awkward, crude, primitive, rude, bungling, incompetent, clumsy, inept, untalented, maladroit a spiritless and artless display of incompetence
unskilled sophisticated, artistic, aesthetic, cunning, crafty, artful

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

artless

adjective

1. Free from guile, cunning, or deceit:

guileless, ingenuous, innocent, naive, natural, simple, unaffected, unsophisticated, unstudied, unworldly.

2. Of a plain and unsophisticated nature:

homely, homespun, natural, rustic, unadorned, unpolished.

Translations

incolto ingenuo naturale semplice spontaneo

artless

[ˈɑːtlɪs] ADJ

1. (= straightforward) [beauty] → natural; [person, smile, comment] → ingenuo, sin malicia; [book, story, film] → sencillo, sin artificios

2. (= naïve) → simple

3. (= clumsy) → torpe

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

artless

[ˈɑː^rtləs] adj [person] → naïf(naïve), simple; [behaviour] → simple, ingénu(e); [remark] → naïf(naïve), ingénu(e)

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

artless

adj, artlessly

adv → unschuldig

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

artless

[ˈɑːtlɪs] adj → ingenuo/a, semplice

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

I want to make him sensible of all this, for we know the power of gratitude on such a heart as his; and could Frederica's artless affection detach him from her mother, we might bless the day which brought her to Churchhill.

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Her tears fell abundantlybut her grief was so truly artless, that no dignity could have made it more respectable in Emma's eyes and she listened to her and tried to console her with all her heart and understandingreally for the time convinced that Harriet was the superior creature of the twoand that to resemble her would be more for her own welfare and happiness than all that genius or intelligence could do.

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These tears proved, what certain indications of manner had already hinted to me, that Rosalind was more artless than I had at first supposed.

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On the field between Borodino and the fleches, beside the wood, the chief action of the day took place on an open space visible from both sides and was fought in the simplest and most artless way.

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But though virtue is a much finer thing, and those hapless creatures who suffer under the misfortune of good looks ought to be continually put in mind of the fate which awaits them; and though, very likely, the heroic female character which ladies admire is a more glorious and beautiful object than the kind, fresh, smiling, artless, tender little domestic goddess, whom men are inclined to worship--yet the latter and inferior sort of women must have this consolation--that the men do admire them after all; and that, in spite of all our kind friends' warnings and protests, we go on in our desperate error and folly, and shall to the end of the chapter.

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A vigor apparent only when we keep in mind the artless character of the speaker and the four feet of the favorite, one for each wind.

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This young woman is the most extraordinary specimen of artless Yankeeism that I ever encountered; she is really too horrible.

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There is a noble and lofty pathos in the close of Caponsacchi's statement, an artless and manly break from his self-control throughout, that seems to me the last possible effect in its kind; and Pompilia's story holds all of womanhood in it, the purity, the passion, the tenderness, the helplessness.

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Chancing to raise her eyes as the elder lady was regarding her, she playfully put back her hair, which was simply braided on her forehead; and threw into her beaming look, such an expression of affection and artless loveliness, that blessed spirits might have smiled to look upon her.

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These artless sports had naturally soothed and cheered the decline of her widowed father: a most exemplary gentleman (called

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He is no great scribe, rather handling his pen like the pocket-staff he carries about with him always convenient to his grasp, and discourages correspondence with himself in others as being too artless and direct a way of doing delicate business.

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Flora, who had been spoiled and artless long ago, was determined to be spoiled and artless now.

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