artifact

CEFRB2

/ˈɑːtɪfækt/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    An object made by people, especially one of historical or cultural interest.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Something viewed as a product of human agency or conception rather than an inherent element.

Examples

  • I heard they found an alien artifact on the moon.

  • The artifact discovered at the archaeological site should be treated with utmost care.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
1

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An object made or shaped by human hand or labor.

  2. An object made or shaped by some agent or intelligence, not necessarily of direct human origin.

  3. A finding or structure in an experiment or investigation that is not a true feature of the object under observation, but is a result of external action, the test arrangement, or an experimental error.

More examples

In context

  • The spot on his lung turned out to be an artifact of the X-ray process.

  • This JPEG image has been so highly compressed that it has unsightly artifacts, making it unsuitable for the cover of our magazine.

  • The dig produced many Roman artifacts.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The museum displayed an ancient blank from a Roman excavation site.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

Vulgar Latin *artefactum Italian artefattoder. English artifact Alteration of artefact, from Italian artefatto, from Latin arte (“by skill”) (ablative of ars (“art”)) + factum (“thing made”) (from facio (“to make, do”)).