artifice

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (2)  · 
“
This is a little artifice which is excusable in almost any lady at such a period.

View all »
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)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
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
More examples »
 

Tags

artifice hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 261 times.

1 person has marked this word as a favorite.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
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.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈɑrtɪfɪs/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recently looked up

mollify · well-behaved · brinkmanship · epistolary · dallying

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

eu oi oìa u ou e u oìa · the octopi are dry · Kansas City · spell it rite · put it in your pocket