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# skilful

«skilful» in Mova's school dictionary: **very good at doing something because of practice and ability** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (skilful, more skilful, most skilful; US spelling skillful); adverb skilfully

### meaning for a pupil

1) Skilful means very good at doing something because of practice and ability. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#m1)

2) Something done in a skilful way is done with great skill. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In sport, art, music and DT, a skilful player, painter or builder does things well and neatly. School reports may praise skilful work. In stories, a skilful thief or sailor is one with great ability. Being skilful usually comes from practice, not just talent.

### examples

- She is a skilful footballer who can dribble past anyone. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x1)
- The skilful potter made a perfect bowl. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x2)
- It took skilful hands to fix the old clock. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x3)
- He was a skilful liar, but he got caught in the end. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x4)
- The skilful pilot landed the plane in the storm. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x5)
- With practice you can become a skilful juggler. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x6)
- She made a skilful drawing of a horse. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x7)
- The game was set then, and her play was so skilful that Art was hard put to counter her moves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/#x8)

### note

UK, Ireland, Australia, NZ: skilful (one l in the middle); USA: skillful (two l's); Canada often uses skillful. Noun: skill. Adverb: skilfully (UK) / skillfully (US).

### In the corpora

- [English borrowed gauche to mean clumsy and adroit (from à droit) to mean skilful.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/french/22-the-town-and-directions/6/)
- [to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.930/)
- [And to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1078/)
- [and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of skilful workmanship.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/torah/jps/EXO.1079/)
- [The captain of fifty, and the man of rank, and the counsellor, and the cunning charmer, and the skilful enchanter.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.57/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «skilful» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/skilful/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.