skillful
AmericanSynonym Usage
Skillful, skilled, expert refer to readiness and adroitness in an occupation, craft, or art. Skillful suggests especially adroitness and dexterity: a skillful watchmaker. Skilled implies having had long experience and thus having acquired a high degree of proficiency: not an amateur but a skilled worker. Expert means having the highest degree of proficiency; it may mean much the same as skillful or skilled, or both: expert workmanship. See also dexterous.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of skillful
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at skill 1, -ful
Explanation
If you're skillful, you're very good at some particular thing. A skillful debater might have a successful career in politics, while a skillful baker could make the best brownies you've ever tasted. Skillful people tend to be experts at something, like a skillful ping pong player or a skillful pianist. You can also use this adjective to mean "done in an expert way," so you could praise your sister's skillful snow fort building or your brother's skillful video gaming. The adjective skillful comes from skill, which is rooted in the Old Norse skil, "distinction, discernment, or adjustment."
Vocabulary lists containing skillful
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"The Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating, or rather, very skillful at not negotiating, letting the Americans travel to Islamabad and then leave again without any result," he said.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
And Mr. Paul’s songs are skillful homages to favorite tunes from the musical-theater canon such as Billy’s “Soliloquy” from “Carousel” and “Ya Got Trouble” from “The Music Man.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026
In this roiling atmosphere, skillful politicians such as Lincoln churned turnout.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
At his best, he is undoubtedly one of England's most skillful seamers but his fitness and reliability remains a concern.
From BBC • Jan. 11, 2026
IVhere learned you to play so skillful on the Violin?
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
