From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishartfulart‧ful /ˈɑːtfəl $ ˈɑːrt-/ adjective 1 TRICK/DECEIVEclever at deceiving people SYN cunning artful tricks2 designed or done in a clever and attractive way artful photographs —artfully adverb artfully concealed pockets —artfulness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
artful• Even to suggest that efforts he made to expand the labor force by increasing the domestic birth rate would seem slightly artful.• The script is an artful adaptation of a novel by Rosa Guy.• She was as artful at that as at so many other things.• Young people from welfare-dependent single-parent families just aren't artful dodgers ready to graduate into serious crime and a moral vacuum.• He noticed the artful make-up, the elegant hair style.• artful misrepresentations• To get from original pencil and watercolor drawings to finished rolls of wallpaper took a series of artful steps.• But the arrangement is more artful than it might appear to be at first sight.• No, let such fellows as Williams be taken in by her artful wiles! 