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ARTLESS
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I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Simple and natural; without cunning or deceit
Example:
artless elegance
Classified under:
Similar:
careless (effortless and unstudied)
Also:
natural (in accordance with nature; relating to or concerning nature)
Antonym:
artful (marked by skill in achieving a desired end especially with cunning or craft)
Derivation:
artlessness (ingenuousness by virtue of being free from artful deceit)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Characterized by an inability to mask your feelings; not devious
Example:
an ingenuous admission of responsibility
Synonyms:
artless; ingenuous
Classified under:
Similar:
candid; heart-to-heart; open (openly straightforward and direct without reserve or secretiveness)
undistorted (without alteration or misrepresentation)
Also:
sincere (open and genuine; not deceitful)
naif; naive (marked by or showing unaffected simplicity and lack of guile or worldly experience)
Derivation:
artlessness (the quality of innocent naivete)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(of persons) lacking art or knowledge
Synonyms:
artless; uncultivated; uncultured
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unrefined ((used of persons and their behavior) not refined; uncouth)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Showing lack of art
Example:
an artless translation
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
unskilled (not having or showing or requiring special skill or proficiency)
Context examples:
Fanny's feelings on the occasion were such as she believed herself incapable of expressing; but her countenance and a few artless words fully conveyed all their gratitude and delight, and her cousin began to find her an interesting object.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
Yes, I had a satisfaction in the thought of marrying an inexperienced and artless person, and forming her character, and infusing into it some amount of that firmness and decision of which it stood in need.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Catherine's mind was greatly eased by this information, yet a something of solicitude remained, from which sprang the following question, thoroughly artless in itself, though rather distressing to the gentleman: But, Mr. Tilney, why were you less generous than your sister?
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Emma watched the entree of her own particular little friend; and if she could not exult in her dignity and grace, she could not only love the blooming sweetness and the artless manner, but could most heartily rejoice in that light, cheerful, unsentimental disposition which allowed her so many alleviations of pleasure, in the midst of the pangs of disappointed affection.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
Everyone was too busy with their own affairs to help her, and the little girls were only hindrances, for the dears fussed and chattered like so many magpies, making a great deal of confusion in their artless efforts to preserve the most perfect order.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Sometimes, indeed, I have thought you were half suspecting me of pleading poor Martin's cause, which was never the case; but, from all my observations, I am convinced of her being an artless, amiable girl, with very good notions, very seriously good principles, and placing her happiness in the affections and utility of domestic life.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
