artistic

Definition

Having or revealing creative skill.

Etymology

Borrowed from French artistique, from artiste + -ique. By surface analysis, artist + -ic.

Example Sentences

• "He [Abraham Lincoln] leaves for America’s history and biography, so far, not only its most dramatic reminiscence—he leaves, in my opinion, the greatest, best, most characteristic, artistic, moral personality."
• "Art should be independent of all clap-trap—should stand alone, and appeal to the artistic sense of eye or ear, without confounding this with emotions entirely foreign to it, as devotion, pity, love, patriotism, and the like."
• "To be artistic, that is, to excite the feeling of beauty effectually, the notes must not be all forte or all piano ; and the execution is the finer the more numerous the gradations—supposing these are such as to satisfy other requirements."