masterful

[ mas-ter-fuhl, mah-ster- ]

adjective

1. dominating; self-willed; imperious.

   Synonyms: peremptory

2. having or showing the qualities of a master; authoritative; powerful.
3. showing mastery or skill; masterly:

   a masterful performance.

   Synonyms: matchless, skillful, skilled, expert, adept, complete, consummate

masterful

/ ˈmɑːstəfʊl /

adjective

1. having or showing mastery
2. fond of playing the master; imperious
3. masterly

Usage

The use of masterful to mean masterly as in a masterful performance , although common, is considered incorrect by many people

Confusables Note

At an earlier time, both masterful and masterly had two senses: “having a commanding or domineering nature or manner” and “possessing the skill of a master.” The earliest sense of masterly, “having a commanding nature,” has been obsolete since the 18th century. Masterful continues to be used in all varieties of speech and writing in both senses, despite the protests of some who prefer that masterful be restricted to the sense “dominating or imperious”: The envoy's masterful behavior irritated the citizens. Few painters have produced so many masterful (or masterly ) portraits.

Derived Forms

• ˈmasterfulness, noun
• ˈmasterfully, adverb

Other Words From

• master·ful·ly adverb
• master·ful·ness noun
• over·master·ful adjective
• over·master·ful·ly adverb
• over·master·ful·ness noun
• un·master·ful adjective
• un·master·ful·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of masterful¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English; master, -ful

Example Sentences

Appel was masterful, throwing six scoreless innings, walking just one and striking out six, looking every bit like a pitcher ready to help Philadelphia down the stretch.

From FiveThirtyEight

It’s a lovely book by a deep thinker and a masterful storyteller.

From Washington Post

Describing in detail each and every addition would be a masterful feat, one that would take far too long to read.

From Popular-Science

Even at his age, CP3 is still a masterful orchestrator, pulling defenders this way and that with a shoulder-shrug here, a head nod there or a momentary flick of his eyes in one direction or another.

From FiveThirtyEight

As he concludes his masterful book, “Whatever you think about the company — and the man — that controls so much of our economic reality in the third decade of the twenty-first century, there is no turning back now.”

From Washington Post

Dear Thief is worthy of the abused critical adjectives philosophical, atmospheric, and masterful.

From The Daily Beast

Washington, a truly masterful storyteller, grew up in what he calls “a wacky cult”—the Worldwide Church of God.

From The Daily Beast

The pageant did achieve the dubious honor of becoming a masterful example of "show" versus "tell."

From The Daily Beast

The scenes between Redmayne and Jones where the latter party struggles to pull him away from the edge are masterful.

From The Daily Beast

“When I first met Ed, I thought he was a peculiar guy, but when I got my hands on the book, it was masterful,” Osse said.

From The Daily Beast

The somewhat full double chin, and the carriage of her head, gave her a masterful look.

From Project Gutenberg

Gatien Boirouge was made game of by Lousteau, to whom he had confessed his love for that masterful woman.

From Project Gutenberg

We have seen that in his theories he did not admit of individual passion, finding it too masterful, too familiar and violent.

From Project Gutenberg

He knew that if he were really panic-stricken and attempted to carry it off in the masterful manner, she would laugh in his face.

From Project Gutenberg

"Tell me what is the matter," he said, a stronger note in his voice, the old masterful spirit asserting itself again.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• adroit
• deft
• excellent
• exquisite
• first-rate
• masterly
• skillful