Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Produced artificially rather than by a natural process.
  • adjective Lacking authenticity or genuineness; sham.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective 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

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Created by humans; artificial.
  • adjective Counterfeit, fabricated.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not produced by natural forces

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin factīcius, from factus, past participle of facere, to make; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin factītius ("artificial"), alt form. of factīcius, from facere ("to make, do").

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Examples

Comments

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  • 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

    June 24, 2008