artifice

[ ahr-tuh-fis ]

noun

1. a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile.

   Synonyms: subterfuge

2. trickery; guile; craftiness.

   Synonyms: duplicity, art, deceit, deception

3. cunning; ingenuity; inventiveness:

   a drawing-room comedy crafted with artifice and elegance.

4. a skillful or artful contrivance or expedient.

artifice

/ ˈɑːtɪfɪs /

noun

1. a clever expedient; ingenious stratagem
2. crafty or subtle deception
3. skill; cleverness
4. a skilfully contrived device
5. obsolete.
   craftsmanship

Word History and Origins

Origin of artifice¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of artifice¹

C16: from Old French, from Latin artificium skill, from artifex one possessed of a specific skill, from ars skill + -fex, from facere to make

Synonym Study

See trick. See cunning.

Example Sentences

Limbro was excellent, and I kind of loved how the show made no attempt to justify its obvious artifice.

From Time

Her large-scale photographs spike tired conventions of documentary portraiture with freewheeling artifice and invention.

From Washington Post

Like all of the show’s greatest set pieces, it was a stunning fusion of high artifice and deeply felt emotion.

From Time

It might seem out of place on our busy modern calendars — a day shorn, like Rogers’ Hallmark tree, of artifice and pomp.

From Time

Liza’s authentic warmth is such a refreshing antidote to Halston’s chilly artifice that a full-on dual portrait might have worked better to deepen both characters.

From Time

There is usually something transparent about the artifice required by famous artists trying to remain current.

From The Daily Beast

Bratis, who trained in Athens, creates pieces of “femininity and pure elegance without artifice.”

From The Daily Beast

Point of view is inconsistent and Berg employs enough obvious filmic artifice to keep reminding us we are watching dramatization.

From The Daily Beast

“Faye always tried to advance his own idea of the institution by judicial artifice,” Lecourt told Le Monde.

From The Daily Beast

The collection is by turn bizarre, hilarious, unpredictable, all of it without a single note of artifice.

From The Daily Beast

He used every artifice to prevent a collision between the French and Neapolitan troops.

From Project Gutenberg

This way of owning Guilt in a wrong Place, is a common Artifice to hide it in a right one.

From Project Gutenberg

Artifice is always strictly subordinated, and the poet seems to sing spontaneously.

From Project Gutenberg

Then you would recommend rank rebellion, either by force or artifice, according as circumstances might require?

From Project Gutenberg

He listened, fascinated, incredulous, asking himself if human artifice could invent such a history.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• contrivance
• gimmick