Artistical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Pertaining to the qualities of creativity and artistry, this term signifies a style that embodies originality and aesthetic appeal while involving imaginative techniques across various disciplines
2. Connected to the creative and imaginative aspects involved in producing art or design
3. Describing something characterized by inventive skill and aesthetic expression

Etymology: "Artistical" is an English adjective that has been around since the late 1500s, but its history is less dignified than its meaning suggests. It is formed from "artist" plus the suffix "-ical," which English uses to turn nouns into adjectives, as in "musical" from "music" or "political" from "politic." The pattern is old and productive, and "artistical" simply follows it: a sense of "relating to an artist or to art." What makes the word notable is how little it has been used. Its earliest English attestations in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries show it meaning "skilful" or "done with artistic method," often in contrast with "natural" or "spontaneous." Over time, the plainer and more common "artistic" displaced it almost entirely, and "artistical" survives mainly as a rare, slightly stilted variant. Dictionaries often mark it as archaic or uncommon, and it can read as a deliberate old-fashioned choice in modern prose.

Synonyms: artistic, creative