art

¹

[ ahrt ]

noun

1. the quality, production, expression, or realm of things that conform to accepted aesthetic principles of beauty, show imagination and skill, and have more than ordinary meaning and importance:

   Art is a characteristic human activity.

   My parents and I disagree about what qualifies as art.

2. the class of objects that meet or are subject to aesthetic criteria; objects considered beautiful, imaginative, skillful, and meaningful collectively, such as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: fine art ( def ), commercial art ( def ).

   The palace houses a remarkable collection of art.

   The local museum of art currently has a special exhibit of the works of Kurelek.

3. the visual or fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture:

   She dabbled in art, including painting and sculpture.

4. the arts, the fine arts together with literature and the performing arts:

   I attended a high school that emphasized the arts, and I took every drama course I could.

   There never seems to be enough public funding for the arts.

5. a field, genre, or category of creative, imaginative, skilled activity that meets or is subject to aesthetic criteria:

   Poetry and dance are arts.

6. any craft or field of creative activity applying aesthetic principles, skill, and technique:

   She does graphic art for an advertising company.

7. arts,
   1. the cluster of academic disciplines dealing with art, literature, languages, philosophy, etc., as distinct from the natural and social sciences and the technical or professional fields; the humanities:

      He teaches in the College of Arts and Sciences.

      There are fewer opportunities these days for graduates with a degree in arts.

   2. the humanities together with the natural and social sciences, as opposed to the professional and technical fields; liberal arts:

      Are you at the Faculty of Arts, or at one of the professional faculties?

8. a branch of learning or university study, especially one of the fine arts or the humanities, such as music, philosophy, or literature:

   We attended a brilliant lecture on the role of the arts of philosophy and rhetoric in expanding knowledge.

9. term of art ( def ).
   1. the principles, techniques, or methods governing any craft, trade, or profession:

      the art of baking;

      the art of selling.

   2. the craft, trade, or profession using these principles, techniques, or methods.
10. skill in conducting any human activity:

    You are a master at the art of conversation!

    From my mother, I learned the art of making perfectly cooked pasta.

    Synonyms: skillfulness, knack, know-how, facility

11. skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature:

    Do these shrubs in your garden owe their shape to art or to nature?

12. (in printed matter) illustrative or decorative material:

    Is there any art with the copy for this story?

13. trickery or cunning, or an instance of this:

    Don’t be taken in by their devious art.

    She is adept at the innumerable arts and wiles of politics.

    Synonyms: artfulness, wiliness, slyness, craftiness, tactic, trick, scheme, contrivance, machination, maneuver, stratagem, scheming, guile, ruse, subterfuge, intrigue, wile, feint, dodge

14. pretense or artificiality in behavior:

    He had a manner free of art and affectation.

    Synonyms: duplicity, deception, falsehood, imposture, deceit

    Antonyms: truthfulness, ingenuousness, artlessness, openness, honesty, sincerity, candor, frankness

15. Archaic. science, learning, or scholarship.

verb phrase

1. to improve the aesthetic quality of (something) through some form of art:

   This dress is so plain, it could use some arting up.

   I had an interior designer art up my apartment.

art

²

[ ahrt ]

verb

, Archaic.

1. 2nd person singular present indicative of be.

Art

³

[ ahrt ]

noun

1. a first name, form of Arthur.

ART

⁴

Linguistics.

1. article: often used to represent the class of determiners, including words such as this, that, and some as well as the articles a, an, and the.

-art

⁵

1. variant of -ard:

   braggart.

art.

⁶

abbreviation for

, plural arts.

1. plural arts article; articles.
2. artificial.
3. artillery.
4. artist.

art

¹

/ ɑːt /

verb

1. archaic.
   used with the pronoun thou a singular form of the present tense (indicative mood) of be 1

-art

²

suffix forming nouns

1. a variant of -ard

art

³

/ ɑːt /

noun

1. 1. the creation of works of beauty or other special significance
   2. ( as modifier )

      an art movement

2. the exercise of human skill (as distinguished from nature )
3. imaginative skill as applied to representations of the natural world or figments of the imagination
4. 1. the products of man's creative activities; works of art collectively, esp of the visual arts, sometimes also music, drama, dance, and literature
   2. ( as modifier ) See also arts fine art

      an art gallery

5. excellence or aesthetic merit of conception or execution as exemplified by such works
6. any branch of the visual arts, esp painting
7. modifier intended to be artistic or decorative

   art needlework

8. 1. any field using the techniques of art to display artistic qualities

      advertising art

   2. ( as modifier )

      an art film

9. journalism photographs or other illustrations in a newspaper, etc
10. method, facility, or knack

    the art of threading a needle

    the art of writing letters

11. the system of rules or principles governing a particular human activity

    the art of government

12. artfulness; cunning
13. get something down to a fine art
    to become highly proficient at something through practice

ART

⁴

abbreviation for

1. assisted reproductive technology

Word History and Origins

Origin of art¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin ars (stem art- ) “skill, craft, craftsmanship”

Origin of art²

First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English eart, equivalent to ear- ( are ¹ ) + -t ending of 2nd person singular

Word History and Origins

Origin of art¹

Old English eart, part of bēon to be

Origin of art²

C13: from Old French, from Latin ars craftsmanship

Idioms and Phrases

see fine art ; state of the art .

Example Sentences

Wade world, and liberal judges have perfected the art of running on abortion.

From Slate

An immersive exhibition at the Marciano Art Foundation is coming too.

From Los Angeles Times

“Lightscape” will surely be more at home as a swanky seven-screen installation next month at the Marciano Art Foundation.

From Los Angeles Times

Jelly Roll, no stranger to the tattooist's art himself, says he wants to give the prince a tattoo on the neck, as the pair are filmed in the East Side Ink tattoo studio.

From BBC

Pottery shards, cremation sites and rock art can be found throughout the region.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• design
• painting

Words That Use -art

What does -art mean?

The combining form -art is a suffix denoting “someone who engages often in an activity,” and it is frequently pejorative. It is very rarely used in a handful of terms.

The form -art comes from German -hard, meaning “strong; hardy; hard,” which is a cognate of English hard.

What are variants of -art?

In most instances, the form -art is spelled -ard, as in drunkard. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use article about -ard.

Examples of -art

One of the few words that uses the suffix -art is braggart, “a person who does a lot of bragging.”

The word brag- means “to boast,” as you may already know. As we have seen, -art means “someone who engages often in an activity.” Braggart literally translates to “someone who often boasts.”

What are some words that use the combining form -art?

• staggart

What are some other forms that -art may be commonly confused with?

• -arch
• -archy
• -ary

Not every word that ends with the exact letters -art, such as heart or rampart, is necessarily using the combining form -art to denote “someone who engages often in an activity.” Learn why rampart means “bulwark” at our entry for the word.