Without guile or deception; natural and simple; lacking skill or finesse.
From 'art' plus '-less,' but 'art' here meant 'cunning' or 'artifice' rather than creative expression. The word has two meanings: positively, it means genuine and natural; negatively, it means clumsy or unskilled.
This tricky word means GOOD 'without art' (genuine, natural) or BAD 'without art' (clumsy, unskilled)! Context is everything — an artless smile is charmingly natural, but artless writing is just bad. It's the opposite of 'artful' (cunning).
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