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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.
ARTIFICE definition: a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile. See examples of artifice used in a sentence.
The curious connections between nature, human imagination and human artifice make delightful reading.
Something contrived or made up to achieve an end, especially by deceiving; a stratagem or ruse: "From the beginning, 'compassionate conservatism' was an artifice designed to mask Bush's conservatism from an electorate...
ARTIFICE definition: 1. (the use of) a clever trick or something intended to deceive: 2. (the use of) a clever trick or…. Learn more.
If a politician pretends to be angry as a way of rousing the anger of the voters and getting more votes, he's guilty of artifice — a subtle and crafty trick. Before taking on its current meaning, artifice meant a skil...
Deception or trickery. The purchaser believed that the product was new only by artifice of the seller.
Definition of artifice noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
There are eight meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun artifice, two of which are labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
Feb 21, 2026 · Noun artifice (countable and uncountable, plural artifices) A crafty but underhanded deception.