artifice

ar·ti·fice

noun \ˈär-tə-fəs\

Definition of ARTIFICE

1

a : clever or artful skill : ingenuity <believing that characters had to be created from within rather than with artifice — Garson Kanin> b : an ingenious device or expedient

2

a : an artful stratagem : trick b : false or insincere behavior <social artifice>

Examples of ARTIFICE

1. He spoke without artifice or pretense.
2. The whole story was just an artifice to win our sympathy.

Origin of ARTIFICE

Middle French, from Latin artificium, from artific-, artifex artificer, from Latin art-, ars + facere

First Known Use: circa 1604

Related to ARTIFICE

Synonyms: trick, device, dodge, fetch, flimflam, gambit, gimmick, jig, juggle, knack, play, ploy, scheme, shenanigan, sleight, stratagem, wile

Antonyms: artlessness, ineptitude, ineptness, maladroitness

Related Words: bluff, end run, feint; cheating, chicanery, cozenage, craft, crookery, cunning, deception, dupery, duplicity, fakery, jugglery, legerdemain, skulduggery (or skullduggery), subterfuge, swindling, trickery; fraud, gaff, hoax, sham, swindle; blind, front, smoke screen

Near Antonyms: amateurishness, awkwardness, clumsiness, crudeness, klutziness, rudeness; inability, inadequacy, inadequateness, incapability, incapacity, incompetence, ineffectiveness, ineffectuality, ineffectualness, inefficacy, inefficiency

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See Synonym Discussion at trick, art