Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to or made by an artisan.
  • adjective Relating to or being a food or beverage made by hand or by traditional methods.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to artisans or the work of artisans.
  • adjective Involving skilled work, with comparatively little reliance on machinery.
  • adjective Made by an artisan (skilled worker).

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From artisan +‎ -al.

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Examples

  • Mr. Burmeister started in what he calls "artisanal cinema" late in life, after working as a sculptor, French professor, perfume maker, chef and puppeteer.

    The 'Ed Wood of the Pampas' Gives New Meaning to Low-Budget Films Matt Moffett 2011

  • 'Artisanal' label is desperate bid to appeal to finicky consumer Monday, November 21 2011, 10:25 AM Campbell's is one of several manufacturers using the selling power of the word 'artisanal' in new food launches, like the company's Harvest Orange Tomato Soup.

    NYDN Rss 2011

  • A confirmed chocolate addict, Jennifer takes people on half-day tours of the main artisanal producers in London's Mayfair, Chelsea and Notting Hill.

    Top 10 Culinary Guides Bruce Palling 2010

  • Besides, the market for “craft bread” is so small, he says, that rather than squabble, bakers should do their best to help each other increase sales and steal back sales from the industrial producers that caught on to the idea that “artisanal” bread sells (“I hate the word artisanal”).

    Half a Loaf 2008

  • Besides, the market for “craft bread” is so small, he says, that rather than squabble, bakers should do their best to help each other increase sales and steal back sales from the industrial producers that caught on to the idea that “artisanal” bread sells (“I hate the word artisanal”).

    Half a Loaf 2008

  • And it seems just recently we had a national consensus that anything assembled by minimum-wage burger-flippers wasn't properly described as artisanal.

    unknown title 2011

  • As for the ice cream list: As far as we can tell, we made it solely because of Christopher Elbow's Glacé, a fancy - uh, "artisanal" - ice cream shop south of the Country Club Plaza.

    KansasCity.com: Front Page 2011

  • But as iconic as a character like Fred Dobbs may be, one doesn't come across many of these self-employed, so-called artisanal miners in America today.

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Bill Chameides 2011

  • Most of the manufacturing that currently occurrs in the city is relatively small-scale, what one of the panelists called "artisanal."

    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com The Huffington Post News Editors 2011

  • At the same time that the Chinese rare earth industry is facing environmental challenges it must also restructure to improve efficiency and to eliminate so-called artisanal mining entirely.

    China Stocks News and Analysis from Seeking Alpha Jack Lifton 2010

Comments

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  • As defined by the Government of South Africa, “Artisanal mining means small-scale mining involving the extraction of minerals with the simplest of tools, on a subsistence level�?.

    /ɑːˈtɪzənl/

    September 11, 2008

  • something ( bread ) made by a artistic baker.

    artisanal bread is very good looking. taste good too.

    September 7, 2009

  • Art is anal.

    November 2, 2012

  • That should be on a T-shirt.

    March 26, 2014

  • t-artisanal??

    March 26, 2014

  • "... it conjured up a proud French tradition, the integrity of recipes honed over decades, consistent standards and the enjoyment of doing things properly rather than perfunctorily -- a philosophy of preparation so rare that we call it artisanal."

    --Kate Colquhoun, Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking (NY: Bloomsbury, 2007), 361

    January 19, 2017