artifice
pronunciation
How to pronounce artifice in British English:
UK [ˈɑ:tɪfɪs]
How to pronounce artifice in American English:
US [ˈɑrtɪfɪs]
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- Noun:
- a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture)
Word Origin
- artifice (n.)
- 1530s, "workmanship, the making of anything by craft or skill," from Middle French artifice "skill, cunning" (14c.), from Latin artificium "a profession, trade, employment, craft; making by art," from artifex (genitive artificis) "craftsman, artist," from stem of ars "art" (see art (n.)) + facere "to make, do" (see factitious). Meaning "device, trick" (the usual modern sense) is from 1650s.
Example
- 1. The first is obama 's aversion to the artifice of politics .
- 2. She sees both the animality and the artifice .
- 3. But perhaps you 're not convinced by these clever lab experiments performed mostly on undergrads . Perhaps you think the paradigms smack of artifice .
- 4. Natural disasters lay bare the best and worst in people , stripping away hubris and artifice .
- 5. Orwell needed a certain level of artifice to maintain verisimilitude .