artificial

CEFRB2

/ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.l̩/

adjective

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
adjective
Made by people rather than occurring naturally.
02
adjective
Extra detail
Insincere; fake, forced, or feigned.

Examples

A delivery man is dropping off an arrangement of artificial flowers.
Benson and Holmes analyzed the psychological effect of artificial insemination on parents.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5
Synonyms: 2

Also pronounced

/ˌɑːr.təˈfɪʃ.l̩/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

Not natural or normal: imposed arbitrarily or without regard to the specifics or normal circumstances of a person, a situation, etc.
Man-made; made by humans; of artifice.
Based on characteristics useful for identification, without regard for the formal differences used in classification.

More examples

In context

The flowers were artificial, and he thought them rather tacky.
Her manner was somewhat artificial.
An artificial bid doesn't necessarily show length in the suit being bid, it has an altogether different meaning.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The plant in the waiting room was made of blank silk materials.

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Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine. But they are nothing like as efficient, and can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three times a week for hours at a time.
2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly)
“How quickly have I fallen!” thought Tarzan; but in his heart he did not consider it a fall—rather, he pitied the poor creatures of Paris, penned up like prisoners in their silly clothes, and watched by policemen all their poor lives, that they might do nothing that was not entirely artificial and tiresome.
1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 131
This results in an artificial conflation of the individual crises experienced by Western European states and leads to imprecise judgements on the impact of Marshall. This confusing conflation is not simply the product of retrospection.
1990 February 19, Peter Burnham, The Political Economy of Postwar Reconstruction, Springer, →ISBN, page 73
[If] the economic literature of the eighteenth century is examined in terms other than the narrow categories of free trade and protection, the artificial division between the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries would break down .
2002 May 9, Maxine Berg, Pat Hudson, Michael Sonenscher, Manufacture in Town and Country Before the Factory, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 35
In Alberta, for example, policy documents reinforce an artificial distinction between leadership-related activity and management.
2016 November 10, Gabriele Lakomski, Scott Eacott, Colin W. Evers, Questioning Leadership: New directions for educational organisations, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, page 156

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Origin

adjective

From Middle English artificial (“man-made”) via Old French (modern French artificiel), from Latin artificiālis from artificium (“skill”), from artifex, from ars (“skill”), and -fex, from facere (“to make”). Displaced native Old English cræftlīċ.

Deep Dive

adjective

More examples

Related

Quick test

The plant in the waiting room was made of blank— silk materials.

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Origin

adjective

The plant in the waiting room was made of blank silk materials.