artifice

American  

[ahr-tuh-fis] / ˈɑr tə fɪs /

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.

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artifice British  

/ ˈɑːtɪfɪs /

noun

1. a clever expedient; ingenious stratagem

2. crafty or subtle deception

3. skill; cleverness

4. a skilfully contrived device

5. obsolete craftsmanship

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Related Words

See trick. See cunning.

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

Example Sentences

Some crafty artifice and a heap of negative space aren’t enough to fill the void left by a complete lack of narrative sense.

From Salon • Mar. 15, 2026

Social media has become increasingly artificial; there is so much artifice in our own profiles and the sites themselves.

From Slate • Dec. 14, 2025

The painted mountainscapes and Kate Hawley’s costuming are pure artifice in a production in which every mad-scientist detail seems otherwise calibrated.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

The movie star’s mask of artifice briefly vanishes, and all that’s left is a puppy dog look of yearning, a sad acceptance that it’s too late to change certain things.

From Salon • Oct. 2, 2025

The invigorating newness of Mussorgsky, whose art, thought Debussy, was 'free from artifice and arid formulae’, was but one of the extraordinarily fruitful imports to the Exposition Universelle.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• contrivance
• gimmick