Artificial Meaning
/ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.l̩/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjMan-made; made by humans; of artifice.
adjInsincere; fake, forced, or feigned.
Sentence Examples
A delivery man is dropping off an arrangement of artificial flowers.
Benson and Holmes analyzed the psychological effect of artificial insemination on parents.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The plant in the waiting room was made of ____ silk materials.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
These flowers are ____ they are actually made of silk and plastic.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The plant in the waiting room was made of ____ silk materials.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
These flowers are ____ they are actually made of silk and plastic.