artefact
Britishnoun
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something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest
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anything man-made, such as a spurious experimental result
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cytology a structure seen in tissue after death, fixation, staining, etc, that is not normally present in the living tissue
Etymology
Origin of artefact
C19: from Latin phrase arte factum, from ars skill + facere to make
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.
"Police will allege the man was found in possession of the last missing artefact, the wooden cat sculpture," they said.
From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026
Visitors can also see the Khufu Sun Boat, described as the oldest and largest wooden artefact in human history, while a second solar boat is being restored.
From Barron's • Nov. 4, 2025
On 22 August a French official overseeing the loan defended the move, saying the artefact was not too fragile to transport.
From BBC • Aug. 30, 2025
The coin went for considerably less than the only other similar artefact to go under the hammer, which was sold last year in Switzerland for around £50,000.
From BBC • Mar. 30, 2025
Simon Schaffer’s account of Newton’s experimentum crucis; again, the claim that replication was a social artefact turns out to be false.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
