artifice
Americannoun
-
artifices
plural
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a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile.
- Synonyms:
- subterfuge
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trickery; guile; craftiness.
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cunning; ingenuity; inventiveness.
a drawing-room comedy crafted with artifice and elegance.
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a skillful or artful contrivance or expedient.
noun
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a clever expedient; ingenious stratagem
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crafty or subtle deception
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skill; cleverness
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a skilfully contrived device
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obsolete craftsmanship
Synonym Usage
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of artifice
1525–35; < Anglo-French < Latin artificium craftsmanship, art, craftiness, equivalent to arti-, combining form of ars art 1 + -fic-, combining form of facere to do 1, make + -ium + -ium
Explanation
If a politician pretends to be angry as a way of rousing the anger of the voters and getting more votes, he's guilty of artifice — a subtle and crafty trick. Before taking on its current meaning, artifice meant a skilled piece of workmanship. A beautiful diamond bracelet might have been considered a piece of artifice, for example; now it would only be called artifice if the diamonds were fake.
Vocabulary lists containing artifice
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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The Federalist Papers, No. 1 by Alexander Hamilton
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Divergent
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He told me, with absolutely no artifice, that what he finds more interesting about the championship is whether Hull would face relegation or if Leeds could finish in the top half of the table.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
“Being aware of the artifice is, to some extent, part of the charm, so we’re not trying desperately to hide that stuff.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
We are reminded that Matisse always affirmed the artifice of painting, presenting us with undisguised models surrounded by studio props, often in garments that repeat from painting to painting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 13, 2026
Anytime the film veers into computer-generated territory, it takes on a sheen of cheesy artifice.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
Thomas Hoving and Evelyn Harrison and the art experts were instantly able to see behind the forger’s artifice.
From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell
But they also find droll humor in the artifices and absurdities that some see in the genre.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026
He was charged with one count of fraud schemes and artifices, one count of theft and two counts of false return in September 2020 and pleaded guilty in the case six months ago.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 19, 2022
He says that forms are artifices that keep us from being authentic.
From Slate ● Jan. 24, 2018
“The Valley” is a visual contemplation of an animal impulse in the context of late capitalism, activated by the artifices and edifices of the American suburb.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 9, 2017
This time, along with many other artifices, they brought a flying carpet.
From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
