Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Produced artificially rather than by a natural process.
- adj. Lacking authenticity or genuineness; sham: speculators responsible for the factitious value of some stocks.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Made by or resulting from art, in distinction from that which is produced by or conformable to nature; artificial; conventional.
- Synonyms Artificial, Factitious, Unnatural. Artificial means done by art, as opposed to natural. That is unnatural which departs in any way from what is natural: as, unnatural excitement. An artificial or factitious demand in the market is one that is manufactured, the latter being the more laboriously worked up; a factitious demand exists only in the invention of one and the imagination of another; an unnatural demand is greater than the laws of trade would produce.
Wiktionary
- adj. Created by humans, artificial.
- adj. Counterfeit, fabricated.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Made by art, in distinction from what is produced by nature; artificial; sham; contrived; formed by, or adapted to, an artificial or conventional, in distinction from a natural, standard or rule; not natural
WordNet 3.0
- adj. not produced by natural forces
Etymologies
- From Latin factīcius, from factus, past participle of facere, to make; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Munchausen s syndrome is one of group of conditions known as factitious disorders.”
“It is in a class of disorders known as factitious disorders which involve "illnesses" whose symptoms are either self-induced or falsified by the patient ...”
Polls: Hillary Narrowly Edges Obama In Four States, Huckabee Surging With GOP
“In that context I feel like it isn't the established word factitious, but rather a new one meaning "half-factual, half-fictional".”
“Besides beer, the Egyptians had what Pliny calls factitious, or artificial, wine, extracted from various fruits, as figs, _myxas_, pomegranates, as well as herbs, some of which were selected for their medicinal properties.”
“My sentiment and my reason combat more than ever the idea of factitious distinctions, the inequality of conditions imposed as a right acquired by some, as a loss deserved by others.”
The George Sand-Gustave Flaubert Letters
“It is known also that the Japan camphor, termed factitious, will evaporate till it wholly disappears, and at all stages of its diminution retain its full proportion of strength; which does not seem the property of an adulterated or compounded body.”
“The condition known as factitious disorder makes its sufferers believe that they are about to die at the hands of a terminal illness.”
“As the malevolent violence of the drug conflict begins to spread north over the border, the U.S. and Mexico are in no position to be engaging in what some would call factitious trade disputes.”
“Park Dietz, a forensic psychiatrist based in California, has studied cases of what's called factitious victimization for nearly three decades.”
“This is a comment to a previous entry: on May 13th there was some discussion of the word "factitious".”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘factitious’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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A Rarefaction of Factoids
List of genuine words and phrases containing the string fact-, -fact-, or -fact. Beginning with ventifact and stupefaction.
ventifact, stupefaction, fact, factoid, rarefaction, unsatisfactory, satisfactory, tumefaction, surfactant, artifact, benefactor, benefaction and 142 more...
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Adjectival Arcana
A roster of adjectives that infrequently surface in typical conversation and writing. Many are dredged from scientific or other technical jargon or sieved from examples of disused archaic forms.
unitegmic, acaulescent, reticuloendothelial, ingressive, uniate, acanthopterygian, ossific, epiphysial, perivisceral, acœlomatous, cestoid, acælomate and 7762 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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cgrimm's list
Words I like or find interesting
boondoggle, kerfuffel, schadenfreude, possierlich, vendor, skidaddle, apfelsine, fodder, scapegrace, die tarnung, tarnkappe, shampoo and 16 more...
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Magoosh- confusable F words
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mbmontague's list
This is a list of words I like or words that baffle me.
inchoate, praeternatural, articulate, ideation, pungent, polemic, cogent, aberrant, salient, wisp, withe, nexus and 24 more...
yarb Darrow had no idea how long he had sat there when he heard Anna's hand on the door. The effort of rising, and of composing his face to meet her, gave him a factitious sense of self-control.
- Edith Wharton, The Reef Jun 24, 2008