factitious
[ fak-tish-uh s ]
/ fækˈtɪʃ əs /
adjective
not spontaneous or natural; artificial; contrived: factitious laughter; factitious enthusiasm.
made; manufactured: a decoration of factitious flowers and leaves.
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
Origin of factitious
Related forms
Can be confusedfacetious factious factitious fictional fictitiousfactitious fictional fictitious fictive
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for factitious
British Dictionary definitions for factitious
factitious
/ (fækˈtɪʃəs) /
adjective
artificial rather than naturalfactitious demands created by the mass media
not genuine; shamfactitious enthusiasm
Derived Formsfactitiously, adverbfactitiousness, noun
Word Origin for factitious
C17: from Latin factīcius, from facere to make, do
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for factitious
factitious
1640s, from Latin factitius "artificial," from factus, past participle of facere "do" (source of French faire, Spanish hacer), from PIE root *dhe- "to put, to do" (cf. Sanskrit dadhati "puts, places;" Avestan dadaiti "he puts;" Old Persian ada "he made;" Hittite dai- "to place;" Greek tithenai "to put, set, place;" Lithuanian deti "to put;" Polish dziać się "to be happening;" Russian delat' "to do;" Old High German tuon, German tun, Old Saxon, Old English don "to do;" Old Frisian dua, Old Swedish duon, Gothic gadeths "a doing;" Old Norse dalidun "they did").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Medicine definitions for factitious
factitious
[ făk-tĭsh′əs ]
adj.
Produced artificially rather than by a natural process.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.