Word of the day · 5 July 2026
artless
/ˈɑːrtləs/
adjective
Without guile or pretension; natural and sincere. Also, lacking skill.
In a sentence
- Her artless thanks felt more genuine than a polished speech.
- The first draft was artless but full of usable detail.
- He gave an artless shrug that ended the argument.
In an image
Origin
From art (skill, craft) plus -less; English has used it since the late 1500s for both innocence and lack of technique.
History
Artless can praise and criticize. In praise it means free of cunning, like an artless confession. In blame it means clumsy or unskilled, like artless prose. Context usually settles which sense is meant. Readers still look it up because modern artless rarely means “without paintings.”
Nearby words
guileless · ingenuous · unskilled
Unforced honesty, or work that shows no craft.