"masterful" meaning in English

See masterful in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more masterful [comparative], most masterful [superlative]
Etymology: From Middle English maysterful, maistrefull, equivalent to master + -ful. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|maysterful}} Middle English maysterful, {{m|enm|maistrefull}} maistrefull, {{suf|en|master|ful|pos=adjective}} master + -ful Head templates: {{en-adj}} masterful (comparative more masterful, superlative most masterful)
  1. Of or pertaining to the manner of a master of an art, technique, profession, or craft; masterly.
    Sense id: en-masterful-en-adj-oOGkPw6q
  2. In the manner of a master; very skillful.
    Sense id: en-masterful-en-adj-DL38xrGX
  3. Having or showing the qualities of a master vis-a-vis a dependent or subordinate; authoritative; domineering.
    Sense id: en-masterful-en-adj-en:authoritative Categories (other): English adjectives suffixed with -ful, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English adjectives suffixed with -ful: 23 23 53 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 8 4 88
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: masterfull [archaic] Derived forms: masterfully, masterfulness Related terms: masterly

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for masterful meaning in English (3.0kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "masterfully"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "masterfulness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "maysterful"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English maysterful",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "maistrefull"
      },
      "expansion": "maistrefull",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "master",
        "3": "ful",
        "pos": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "master + -ful",
      "name": "suf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English maysterful, maistrefull, equivalent to master + -ful.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more masterful",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most masterful",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "masterful (comparative more masterful, superlative most masterful)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "masterly"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The brushwork on the skin tones was masterful."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of or pertaining to the manner of a master of an art, technique, profession, or craft; masterly."
      ],
      "id": "en-masterful-en-adj-oOGkPw6q",
      "links": [
        [
          "master",
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        [
          "masterly",
          "masterly"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The masterful conducting ensured the orchestra gave of their best."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 December 12, Sambhav Sankar, “A justice stewarding a Constitution”, in SCOTUSblog",
          "text": "But Newdow (who argued his own case despite having minimal legal training) did an unexpectedly masterful job at the lectern.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the manner of a master; very skillful."
      ],
      "id": "en-masterful-en-adj-DL38xrGX",
      "links": [
        [
          "skillful",
          "skillful"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "23 23 53",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English adjectives suffixed with -ful",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "8 4 88",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 14, in Jane Eyre, Rochester to Jane by the fire",
          "text": "...do you not agree with me that I have a right to be a little masterful, abrupt; perhaps exacting, sometimes, on the grounds I stated...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1868-69, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Chapter 38",
          "text": "When John spoke in that masterful tone, Meg always obeyed, and never regretted her docility."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908, E. M. Forster, A Room with a View, Chapter 18, Lucy to Mr. Beebe about Cecil",
          "text": "...it was that he is so masterful. I found that he wouldn't let me go my own way."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Having or showing the qualities of a master vis-a-vis a dependent or subordinate; authoritative; domineering."
      ],
      "id": "en-masterful-en-adj-en:authoritative",
      "links": [
        [
          "authoritative",
          "authoritative"
        ],
        [
          "domineering",
          "domineering"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:authoritative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "masterfull"
    }
  ],
  "word": "masterful"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English adjectives suffixed with -ful",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "masterfully"
    },
    {
      "word": "masterfulness"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "maysterful"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English maysterful",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "maistrefull"
      },
      "expansion": "maistrefull",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "master",
        "3": "ful",
        "pos": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "master + -ful",
      "name": "suf"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English maysterful, maistrefull, equivalent to master + -ful.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more masterful",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most masterful",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "masterful (comparative more masterful, superlative most masterful)",
      "name": "en-adj"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "masterly"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The brushwork on the skin tones was masterful."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of or pertaining to the manner of a master of an art, technique, profession, or craft; masterly."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "master",
          "master"
        ],
        [
          "masterly",
          "masterly"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The masterful conducting ensured the orchestra gave of their best."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 December 12, Sambhav Sankar, “A justice stewarding a Constitution”, in SCOTUSblog",
          "text": "But Newdow (who argued his own case despite having minimal legal training) did an unexpectedly masterful job at the lectern.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "In the manner of a master; very skillful."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "skillful",
          "skillful"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1847, Charlotte Brontë, chapter 14, in Jane Eyre, Rochester to Jane by the fire",
          "text": "...do you not agree with me that I have a right to be a little masterful, abrupt; perhaps exacting, sometimes, on the grounds I stated...",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1868-69, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Chapter 38",
          "text": "When John spoke in that masterful tone, Meg always obeyed, and never regretted her docility."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1908, E. M. Forster, A Room with a View, Chapter 18, Lucy to Mr. Beebe about Cecil",
          "text": "...it was that he is so masterful. I found that he wouldn't let me go my own way."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Having or showing the qualities of a master vis-a-vis a dependent or subordinate; authoritative; domineering."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "authoritative",
          "authoritative"
        ],
        [
          "domineering",
          "domineering"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "en:authoritative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "tags": [
        "archaic"
      ],
      "word": "masterfull"
    }
  ],
  "word": "masterful"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-26 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (93a6c53 and 21a9316). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.