artifice

noun

ar·​ti·​fice ˈär-tə-fəs 

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

… revising the state's constitution through a series of legal stratagems and artifices …

—W. Haywood Burns

b

: false or insincere behavior

social artifice

Did you know?

The Difference Between Art and Artifice

Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. Artifice stresses creative skill or intelligence, but it also implies a sense of falseness and trickery. Art generally rises above such falseness, suggesting instead an unanalyzable creative force. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between art and artifice. Artifice derives from artificium, Latin for "artifice." That root also gave English artificial. Artificium, in turn, developed from ars, the Latin root underlying the word art (and related terms such as artist and artisan).

Synonyms

• device
• dodge
• fetch
• flimflam
• gambit
• gimmick
• jig
• juggle
• knack
• play
• ploy
• ruse
• scheme
• shenanigan
• sleight
• stratagem
• trick
• wile

Choose the Right Synonym for artifice

trick, ruse, stratagem, maneuver, artifice, wile, feint mean an indirect means to gain an end.

trick may imply deception, roguishness, illusion, and either an evil or harmless end.

the tricks of the trade

ruse stresses an attempt to mislead by a false impression.

the ruses of smugglers

stratagem implies a ruse used to entrap, outwit, circumvent, or surprise an opponent or enemy.

the stratagem-filled game

maneuver suggests adroit and skillful avoidance of difficulty.

last-minute maneuvers to avert bankruptcy

artifice implies ingenious contrivance or invention.

the clever artifices of the stage

wile suggests an attempt to entrap or deceive with false allurements.

used all of his wiles to ingratiate himself

feint implies a diversion or distraction of attention away from one's real intent.

a feint toward the enemy's left flank

art, skill, cunning, artifice, craft mean the faculty of executing well what one has devised.

art implies a personal, unanalyzable creative power.

the art of choosing the right word

skill stresses technical knowledge and proficiency.

the skill of a glassblower

cunning suggests ingenuity and subtlety in devising, inventing, or executing.

a mystery plotted with great cunning

artifice suggests technical skill especially in imitating things in nature.

believed realism in film could be achieved only by artifice

craft may imply expertness in workmanship.

the craft of a master goldsmith

Examples of artifice in a Sentence

He spoke without artifice or pretense.

The whole story was just an artifice to win our sympathy.

Recent Examples on the Web

Savvy viewers might have figured out that not all of the giggles and guffaws were real, but few people outside the industry understood the extent of the artifice. —Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2024

Does the exposing of the genre’s mechanics and artifice make Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show one of the genre’s most transparent and therefore honest entries? —Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Mar. 2024

The confessional anguish that went into the movie—the intimate price of pursuing a solo dream as a couple—is already masked in abstraction, in characters whose definition is kept vague, in a tale that’s most notable for its artifice. —Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 18 Jan. 2024

However, this artifice soon becomes the movie’s point. —Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 Mar. 2024

One of the more obvious examples of partisan artifice was in the northwest corner of the state, in the 73rd Assembly District, where the GOP had strategically added Republican areas and subtracted Democratic ones in a plan enacted in 2022. —Megan O’Matz, ProPublica, 16 Feb. 2024

The central mystery of Kate’s disappearance aside, this has been the most fascinating thing about the entire debacle: watching the picture-perfect artifice constructed by the Royal Family crumble to the ground. —Ej Dickson, Rolling Stone, 14 Mar. 2024

Vaughn wants audiences to suspect the artifice and get a laugh out of the clunky clichés being served up and subverted, while innocuously planting seeds that will pay off later in the movie. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 31 Jan. 2024

Blurring the line between reality and artifice Gomez grew up in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles in 2006 to study at theCalifornia Institute of the Arts. —Victoria Woodcock, CNN, 26 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Anglo-French & Middle French, "trade, craft, craftsmanship, contrivance," borrowed from Latin artificium "artistry, craftsmanship, craft, craftiness, cunning," from artific-, artifex "practitioner of an art, specialist, craftsman, creator" (from art-, ars "acquired skill, craftsmanship" + -fic-, -fex, agentive derivative of facere "to make, bring about, do") + -ium, denominal or deverbal suffix of function or state — more at art entry 1, fact

First Known Use

1540, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Kids Definition

artifice

noun

ar·​ti·​fice ˈärt-ə-fəs 

1

a

: a clever device : trick

b

: false or dishonest behavior

social artifice

2

: clever skill

a vase made with much artifice

Legal Definition

artifice

noun

ar·​ti·​fice ˈär-tə-fəs 

: a clever strategy usually intended to deceive or defraud