artifice
a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile.
trickery; guile; craftiness.
cunning; ingenuity; inventiveness: a drawing-room comedy crafted with artifice and elegance.
a skillful or artful contrivance or expedient.
Origin of artifice
1synonym study For artifice
Other words for artifice
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use artifice in a sentence
There is usually something transparent about the artifice required by famous artists trying to remain current.
Bratis, who trained in Athens, creates pieces of “femininity and pure elegance without artifice.”
Is This the End of CR Fashion Book?; Armani Names New Protégé | The Fashion Beast Team | August 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTPoint of view is inconsistent and Berg employs enough obvious filmic artifice to keep reminding us we are watching dramatization.
“Faye always tried to advance his own idea of the institution by judicial artifice,” Lecourt told Le Monde.
The collection is by turn bizarre, hilarious, unpredictable, all of it without a single note of artifice.
He used every artifice to prevent a collision between the French and Neapolitan troops.
Napoleon's Marshals | R. P. Dunn-PattisonThis way of owning Guilt in a wrong Place, is a common artifice to hide it in a right one.
A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope | Colley Cibberartifice is always strictly subordinated, and the poet seems to sing spontaneously.
Frdric Mistral | Charles Alfred DownerThen you would recommend rank rebellion, either by force or artifice, according as circumstances might require?
The Daughters of Danaus | Mona CairdHe listened, fascinated, incredulous, asking himself if human artifice could invent such a history.
The Woman Gives | Owen Johnson
British Dictionary definitions for artifice
/ (ˈɑːtɪfɪs) /
a clever expedient; ingenious stratagem
crafty or subtle deception
skill; cleverness
a skilfully contrived device
obsolete craftsmanship
Origin of artifice
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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