artistic license

artistic license

1. Intentional violations of or deviations from traditional forms, standards, or syntax by a writer in order to achieve a particular effect. Don't get hung up on adhering too strictly to iambic pentameter—you can use a bit of artistic license if it means preserving the meaning and rhythm you want. Any two-bit poet can string together a jumble of words and call it artistic license.
2. Minor changes to or misrepresentations of facts or history in the name of art or for the sake of an agenda. People complain about minor inaccuracies in historical dramas, but honestly they wouldn't be able to make the movies marketable without using a little artistic license.
See also: artistic, license
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

artistic/poetic ˈlicence

(often ironic) the freedom of artists or writers to change facts in order to make a story, painting, etc. more interesting or beautiful: In the book, a fair amount of artistic licence has been taken with the timing of historical events so that they fit with the story. I allowed myself a little poetic licence in describing the table as an antique.
Licence in this idiom means ‘freedom to do or say whatever you want’.
See also: artistic, licence, poetic
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • artistic
  • artistic/poetic licence
  • poetic
  • poetic license
  • stronk
  • without fail
  • enthrall
  • enthrall (one) with (something)
  • enthrall with
  • until the last dog is hung
References in periodicals archive
Danny Strong, who has written Washington-insider stories for HBO, also took artistic license when transforming longtime White House butler Eugene Allen into the fictionalized Cecil Gaines for "Lee Daniels' The Butler"
Cook's backyard, though painted with artistic license. Her "dog clothes," hat, crocs, bumper, pool, and subjects are the real thing.
PONTEFRACT: 2.30 Baltimore Jack, 3.00 Kakapuka, 3.30 Thunderball, 4.00 Artistic License, 4.30 Theola, 5.00 Alainmaar, 5.30 Captain Flasheart.
Now the corporation will no longer continue to contend that a spurious artistic license gives broadcasters the right to swear.
As a person with several decades of NRA pistol competition experience, I know the value of safety, but we all know these pictures are posed, and a certain degree of artistic license is assumed.
Of course, filmmakers aren't bound by the desideratum of realizing clinical accuracy, even if they have had experience with mentally ill persons, and I wholeheartedly defend the director's/screenwriter's/actor's prerogative of taking artistic license. My point of view, however, is that there is plenty of dramatic potential when actors give clinically authentic portrayals, so why not do it "right"?
If not, the message was right on and totally accurate, with a bit of artistic license to it.
An affidavit from Artistic License of the United Kingdom claims that an executive and an attorney for Color Kinetics served a cease-and-desist order at the former's booth at a trade show, demanding that the staff take down its color-changing LED displays and stop selling the products or risk being sued.
Our anger has less to do with the movie's many inaccuracies and artistic license than with the general public's lack of knowledge about disabilities like the one portrayed in the movie.
"Obviously there will have to be some artistic license used when writing this story for film but already there are perfect twists in the plot beginning to unfold.
But Leyva's true love is private residences, having more of an artistic license being able to design for the residents, who will actually live in the space he creates for them.
A DEVOTEE OF GILBERT AND SULLIVAN since co-founding the Gilbert & Sullivan Players at Oberlin College, Gayden Wren, the entertainment editor for the New York Times Syndicate, tackles the salient matters of the British duo's partnership, creative conflicts and artistic license with precise language and pithy comments.
Recognized for using their artistic license to drive sales, winners have been named in the dealer categories of the Newspaper Association of America's 2002 Dandy Awards for excellence in automotive newspaper advertising.
A longtime queer film festival programmer and an art-house film distributor (handling titles such as 2001 Oscar nominees Sound and Fury and The Taste of Others), Zeig is currently bringing The Girl to screens across the country via her own company, Artistic License. The Advocate sat down with her to talk girls, guns, and genre revisionism.
In a real-life abuse of public responsibility, good taste, and artistic license, the Brooklyn Museum of Art is presenting "Sensation," featuring a portrait of the Virgin Mary with her breast decorated by a piece of what is described delicately as elephant dung.