artifice

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French artifice, from Latin artificium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑː(ɹ)tɪfɪs/

Noun

artifice (countable and uncountable, plural artifices)

1. A crafty but underhanded deception.
2. A trick played out as an ingenious, but artful, ruse.
3. A strategic maneuver that uses some clever means to avoid detection or capture.
4. A tactical move to gain advantage.

Verb

artifice (third-person singular simple present artifices, present participle artificing, simple past and past participle artificed)

1. To construct by means of skill or specialised art
   • 1867, Egbert Pomroy Watson, The Modern Practice of American Machinists and Engineers […] :

     The Creator has so cunningly endowed our bodies that there is no labor to be done, no skill in artificing or fashioning the metals, that is beyond our reach.

   • 1900, Country Life, volume 7, page 138:

     Some of the greatest artists of their day either furnished designs or with their own hands artificed ornaments for domestic use,

   • 1922, Appalachian Mountain Club, The A.M.C. White Mountain Guide: A Guide to Trails in the Mountains:

     Splints and slings, already described, are easily artificed out of small saplings or from stiff bark.

Further reading

• artifice at OneLook Dictionary Search
• artifice in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin artificium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aʁ.ti.fis/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

artifice m (plural artifices)

1. artifice, trick, ploy
2. (literary) device

Further reading

• “artifice” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Noun

artifice

1. ablative singular of artifex