masterful

adjective

1 he looked self-assured and masterful:

commanding, powerful, controlling, imposing, magisterial, lordly, authoritative, dominating, domineering, overbearing, overweening, imperious, bossy, peremptory, high-handed, arrogant, autocratic, dictatorial, tyrannical, despotic;

informal pushy.

▷antonyms weak, meek, wimpish.

2 their masterful handling of the situation:

expert, adept, clever, masterly;

skillful, skilled, adroit, proficient, deft, dexterous, accomplished, polished, excellent, superb, superlative, consummate, first-rate, peerless, fine;

informal crack, stellar, ace;

North American badass.

▷antonyms incompetent, inept.

easily confused words	masterful or masterly?
Some writers use masterful only in the sense ‘powerful and able to control others’ (a masterful tone of voice) in order to maintain the distinction from masterly. In practice, however, the two words are used almost equally in this sense.