factitious

American  

[fak-tish-uhs] / fækˈtɪʃ əs /

adjective

1. not spontaneous or natural; artificial; contrived.

   factitious laughter; factitious enthusiasm.

2. made; manufactured.

   a decoration of factitious flowers and leaves.

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factitious British  

/ fækˈtɪʃəs /

adjective

1. artificial rather than natural

   factitious demands created by the mass media

2. not genuine; sham

   factitious enthusiasm

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Other Word Forms

• factitiously adverb
• factitiousness noun
• nonfactitious adjective
• nonfactitiously adverb
• nonfactitiousness noun
• overfactitious adjective

Etymology

Origin of factitious

First recorded in 1640–50, factitious is from the Latin word factīcius “made by art, artificial.” See fact, -itious

Compare meaning

How does factitious compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• factitious vs. fictitious

Example Sentences

Prof Marc Feldman is one of the world's most renowned experts on factitious disorders like Munchausen syndrome.

From BBC • May 7, 2023

That’s because, for the most part, music is used in movies as sonic wallpaper, covering silences and images with an indifferent and casually factitious unity.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 13, 2017

“The heroic image that cancer survivors increasingly have is attractive to factitious disorder patients,” Marc Feldman writes in his book scholarly Playing Sick.

From The Guardian • Feb. 18, 2016

It’s good that he’s sharing it with us, but it comes packaged with a theme so transparently factitious that one can’t take it seriously.

From Washington Post • Feb. 11, 2016

I hadn't known what factitious meant, so I looked it up in the dictionary.

From "The Bell Jar" by Sylvia Plath