draftsman
/ˈdrɑːftsmən/ (bre, ipa) · /ˈdræftsmən/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈdraf(t)-smən ˈdräf(t)-/ (ame, mw)
draftsman — noun
- draftsmansingular
- draughtsmenplural
1. someone whose job is making detailed scale drawings of buildings, machines, or o
someone whose job is making detailed scale drawings of buildings, machines, or other engineered objects, so that builders or manufacturers can work from those plans.
Apinya hired a draftsman to turn her rough sketches into proper construction drawings.
hire + a draftsman (typical employer collocation)
The factory employed two draftsmen who prepared blueprints for every new machine part.
passive context: employed as draftsmen
Before computers, every draftsman worked at a large sloped table using pencils, rulers, and a T-square.
Hiro studied mechanical drawing for three years before he could call himself a qualified draftsman.
The architect asked the draftsman to redraw the south wall at a larger scale.
- drafter
modern gender-neutral term used by many US engineering firms
- draughtsman
British spelling of the same role
- CAD technician
current job-ad label when the drawings are done in software like AutoCAD
文法句型
a draftsman + verb
用法筆記
Subject is usually a building, a machine part, or an engineering project — not free-form art. In American English this sense covers both architecture and engineering offices; British English prefers the spelling 'draughtsman'.
常見錯誤
2. the person who composes the actual wording of a contract, statute, will, or simi
the person who composes the actual wording of a contract, statute, will, or similar legal document, choosing the phrasing carefully so the text says exactly what the parties or legislature intended.
Sven, the senior draftsman of the new tax bill, spent six months refining its wording.
the draftsman of + [legal document]
Courts often ask what the draftsman of a contract meant by an ambiguous phrase.
formal register: courts ask what the draftsman meant
Nora served as principal draftsman for the company's standard employment agreement.
A skilled draftsman avoids vague phrases like 'reasonable time' whenever a fixed deadline is possible.
- drafter
more common modern term in US legal writing
- drafting attorney
specifies that the writer is also a licensed lawyer
文法句型
the draftsman of + document
用法筆記
Almost always followed by 'of + [contract / will / statute / treaty / bill]'. Distinguish from sense 1 by domain: this sense never refers to drawings, only to legal text. Frequently appears in court judgments and law-firm reports.
常見錯誤
3. an artist who is unusually good at drawing — especially at capturing accurate sh
an artist who is unusually good at drawing — especially at capturing accurate shapes, proportions, and lines by hand, often as the foundation for paintings or prints.
Critics praised Layla as a fine draftsman whose pencil studies rivalled her finished oil paintings.
a fine draftsman (set evaluative collocation)
Da Vinci is remembered as one of the greatest draftsmen in European art history.
one of the greatest draftsmen + in [art tradition]
Ishaan was a gifted draftsman who could capture a human hand in just a few quick lines.
The museum exhibited 60 pencil drawings to show how strong a draftsman Rembrandt really was.
- draftsperson
gender-neutral variant; rarer in art-history prose
- drawer
everyday word but ambiguous (also means storage compartment), so art critics avoid it
文法句型
a fine / great + draftsman
用法筆記
Used in art criticism and history writing, not in everyday speech. Frequently graded by adjectives ('fine', 'great', 'gifted', 'masterly') and almost always refers to drawings (pencil, charcoal, ink) rather than paintings or sculpture.