Artifice Meaning
/ˈɑː(ɹ)tɪfɪs/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA crafty but underhanded deception.
nounA trick played out as an ingenious, but artful, ruse.
Sentence Examples
The language of truth must be, with no doubt, simple and without artifice.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The spy used clever ____ to gain access to the secure building.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The magician used various forms of ____ to deceive the audience.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French artifice, from Latin artificium.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The notion that consequence can be as easily managed as PR is the ultimate artifice and the ultimate delusion."
— 2021 November 21, Charles Hugh Smith, When Everything Is Artifice and PR, Collapse Beckons:
"The heightened worlds of darkly comedic satire and soapy high-school romance make it easy enough to roll with unrealistic casting choices—and that goes for stage musicals, too, where some level of artifice is built into the format."
— 2021 September 22, Caroline Siede, “Dear Evan Hansen is a misfire on just about every level”, in AV Club:
"The Creator has so cunningly endowed our bodies that there is no labor to be done, no skill in artificing or fashioning the metals, that is beyond our reach."
— 1867, Egbert Pomroy Watson, The Modern Practice of American Machinists and Engineers […] :
"Some of the greatest artists of their day either furnished designs or with their own hands artificed ornaments for domestic use,"
— 1900, Country Life, volume 7, page 138:
"Splints and slings, already described, are easily artificed out of small saplings or from stiff bark."
— 1922, Appalachian Mountain Club, The A.M.C. White Mountain Guide: A Guide to Trails in the Mountains:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The spy used clever ____ to gain access to the secure building.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The magician used various forms of ____ to deceive the audience.