art

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, maneuver, tactic, trick, scheme, contrivance, machination, ruse, subterfuge, stratagem, scheming, guile, wile, feint, dodge, intrigue

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.