artifice

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This is a little artifice which is excusable in almost any lady at such a period.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun An artful or crafty expedient; a stratagem. See Synonyms at wile.
  2. noun Subtle but base deception; trickery.
  3. noun Cleverness or skill; ingenuity.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • He determined to anticipate the alleged plot by a counter-artifice, and to overwhelm this defenceless people in an indiscriminate and bloody vengeance. —  The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus (Vol. II)
  • Under that artifice, the U.S. media wage a clandestine war against things they don't approve of: Palestinians fighting for their own nation; uppity presidents of former client states, like Venezuela; virtually anything that has the slightest tinge of —  The Berkeley Daily Planet, The East Bay's Independent Newspaper
  • She likes artifice, and found that during a brief sojourn in Paris she was yearning for a more plastic fantastic interpretation, such as Las Vegas 'version of Paris. —  WFAA.com Latest News
  • Only here the artifice is harder to spot, until you realize how much progress doctor and patient have made in 20 minutes. —  TV Barn
  • True .. except that the love story operates in front of a film unit where the artifice is completely exposed .. so Roy's romance probably won't inhabit a commercial potboiler .. —  NAACHGAANA
 

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Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

deceit ·  stratagem ·  trickery ·  guile ·  evasion ·  duplicity ·  dissimulation ·  hypocrisy ·  ruse ·  contrivance ·  treachery ·  finesse
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Old French, craftsmanship, from Latin artificium, from artifex, artific-, craftsman : ars, art-, art; see art1 + -fex, maker; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from French artifice, skill, cunning, from Latin artificium, a craft, employment, art, cunning (cf. artifex (artific-), artist, master in any occupation), from ar(t-)s, art, skill, + facere, make.
 

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/ˈɑrtɪfɪs/
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