artifice
[ ahr-tuh-fis ]
/ ˈɑr tə fɪs /
noun
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.
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Lexical Investigations: ArtA motley combination of Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Germanic dialects, the English language (more or less as we know it) coalesced between the 9th and 13th centuries. Since then, it has continued to import and borrow words and expressions from around the world, and the meanings have mutated. (Awesome and awful once meant nearly the same thing.) Some specimens in the English vocabulary have followed unusually circuitous routes …
RELATED WORDS
gimmick, contrivance, duplicity, inventiveness, dodge, maneuver, play, scam, savvy, stratagem, machination, ploy, subterfuge, ruse, racket, tactic, expedient, device, wile, gambit
Nearby words
- artie,
- artifact,
- artifacting,
- artifactitious,
- artifactual,
- artificer,
- artificial,
- artificial aid,
- artificial aids,
- artificial blood
Origin of artifice
SYNONYMS FOR artifice
Synonym study
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for artifice
artifice
/ (ˈɑːtɪfɪs) /
noun
a clever expedient; ingenious stratagem
crafty or subtle deception
skill; cleverness
a skilfully contrived device
obsolete craftsmanship
Word Origin for artifice
C16: from Old French, from Latin artificium skill, from artifex one possessed of a specific skill, from ars skill + -fex, from facere to make
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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artifice
1530s, "workmanship, the making of anything by craft or skill," from Middle French artifice "skill, cunning" (14c.), from Latin artificium "a profession, trade, employment, craft; making by art," from artifex (genitive artificis) "craftsman, artist," from ars "art" (see art (n.)) + facere "do" (see factitious). Meaning "device, trick" (the usual modern sense) is from 1650s.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper