Meaning

A crafty but underhanded deception..

Definitions by Sense

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.
5. (archaic) Something made with technical skill; a contrivance.
6. To construct by means of skill or specialised art

Example Sentences

The notion that consequence can be as easily managed as PR is the ultimate artifice and the ultimate delusion.

The heightened worlds of darkly comedic satire and soapy high-school romance make it easy enough to roll with unrealistic casting choices—and that goes for stage musicals, too, where some level of artifice is built into the format.

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.

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

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

Word Forms

• artifices
• artificing
• artificed

Synonyms for artifice

Related Words

When Should You Use Artifice?

Use artifice when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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