1
2
as in memento
a lingering indication of something from the past
The spelling of "trough" is an artifact of the way it was originally pronounced.
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of artifact
From a Forgotten Grave to a Landmark Discovery The artifact was originally excavated about 100 years ago from a cemetery at Badari in Upper Egypt, found in Grave 3932 — the burial of an adult man.
—
Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2026
The artifact dates to the Predynastic period (Naqada IID), the late 4th millennium BCE — roughly 5,300 years ago.
—Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 13 Feb. 2026
But while the artwork—femtanyl’s trademark feline creature Token engulfed by flames—still teems with digital artifacts, the music on this debut album seems keen to transcend the screen.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 13 Feb. 2026
The case rendered the law temporarily moribund, a discredited artifact whose future use would require a complete rehabilitation of its legitimacy.
—Evandro Cruz Silva, The Dial, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for artifact
Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 13 Feb. 2026
The artifact dates to the Predynastic period (Naqada IID), the late 4th millennium BCE — roughly 5,300 years ago.
—Ryan Brennan, Kansas City Star, 13 Feb. 2026
But while the artwork—femtanyl’s trademark feline creature Token engulfed by flames—still teems with digital artifacts, the music on this debut album seems keen to transcend the screen.
—Kieran Press-Reynolds, Pitchfork, 13 Feb. 2026
The case rendered the law temporarily moribund, a discredited artifact whose future use would require a complete rehabilitation of its legitimacy.
—Evandro Cruz Silva, The Dial, 10 Feb. 2026
See All Example Sentences for artifact
Recent Examples of Synonyms for artifact
Noun
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Configured to operate on fully renewable gasoline supplied by Repsol, the powertrain is optimized for fuel produced from renewable feedstocks rather than fossil sources.—
Bojan Stojkovski,
Interesting Engineering,
21 Feb. 2026
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The finding, though entirely correct, was also always a work-around, a way of avoiding having to directly confront the overwhelming power of the fossil-fuel industry in our political and economic life.—
Bill McKibben,
New Yorker,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Over-Styling Your Shelves Styling your shelves with personal mementos, vintage treasures, and more can give your home an eclectic aesthetic—but don't overdo it.—
Madeline Buiano,
Martha Stewart,
10 Feb. 2026
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Once used to break down a language barrier and celebrate a new Colombian employee, the paper and flag are now mementos of Alejandro Toro Sepulveda.—
Nuria Martinez-Keel,
Oklahoma Voice,
10 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Her elegant collaboration was a reminder that the world has long created the kinds of crises that threaten our stability today, and a good artist finds a way to make work that shows us a way through it, even if the answer is as simple as making something beautiful.—
Rachel Tashjian,
CNN Money,
18 Feb. 2026
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Grand, crumbling ruins stand as a striking reminder that Oualidia was once a favorite place of the nation’s last Sultan, and the legacy of his beloved royal beach lingers.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
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With gold prices climbing well past the $5,000 per ounce mark in late January before moderating slightly over the last few weeks, even the investors who once dismissed gold as a relic of another era are now taking a much closer look.—
Angelica Leicht,
CBS News,
19 Feb. 2026
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But those relics of history paled in comparison to the ambience — and opulence — of the Forest Theater.—
Uwa Ede-Osifo,
Dallas Morning News,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
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The people’s need for freedom has always been vocalized through protest, and the echoes of what’s happening there and what’s happening in Minneapolis are eerily similar.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
19 Feb. 2026
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There are echoes of those campaigns this term; Arsenal led the standings for the majority of those seasons and is stuttering.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
19 Feb. 2026
Noun
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That trailing effect isn’t a smear on its own, but their blades also leave afterimages, duplicate smears, along their path through space.—
Eric Vilas-Boas,
Vulture,
19 Aug. 2025
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But her teachers at the school left important afterimages.—
Gia Kourlas,
New York Times,
24 Mar. 2025
Noun
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But maybe in a film as deeply personal as this, in which grief is the glue that binds each scene together, there needn’t be an overarching theme or narrative beyond the desire for remembrance.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
20 Feb. 2026
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Memorial Day and other national days of remembrance.—
Jenny Porter Tilley,
IndyStar,
20 Feb. 2026
Noun
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And within that galaxy, not only will stars live-and-die, and not only will star-formation cease once all of the gas has been consumed, but gravitational interactions will eject most of those stellar corpses, as well as the planet remnants that orbit them.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
20 Feb. 2026
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These soon give way to montages, collages, and montages of collages, each aimed at transforming tangible remnants of memory, like photographs, into abstract depictions of a life lived.—
Siddhant Adlakha,
Variety,
20 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Artifact.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/artifact. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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