Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Artificial
1.
Made or contrived by art; produced or modified by human skill and labor, in opposition to natural;
as,
. artificial
heat or light, gems, salts, minerals, fountains, flowersArtificial
strifeLives in these touches, livelier than life.
Shakespeare
2.
Feigned; fictitious; assumed; affected; not genuine.
“Artificial tears.” Shak.
3.
Artful; cunning; crafty.
[Obs.]
Shak.
4.
Cultivated; not indigenous; not of spontaneous growth;
as,
. artificial
grassesGibbon.
Artificial arguments
(Rhet.)
, arguments invented by the speaker, in distinction from laws, authorities, and the like, which are called inartificial arguments or proofs.
Johnson.
– Artificial classification
(Science)
, an arrangement based on superficial characters, and not expressing the true natural relations species; as, “the artificial system” in botany, which is the same as the Linnæan system.
– Artificial horizon
. See under
. Horizon
Artificial light
, any light other than that which proceeds from the heavenly bodies.
– Artificial lines
, lines on a sector or scale, so contrived as to represent the logarithmic sines and tangents, which, by the help of the line of numbers, solve, with tolerable exactness, questions in trigonometry, navigation, etc.
– Artificial numbers
, logarithms.
– Artificial person
(Law)
. See under
– Person
. Artificial sines
, tangents
, etc.the same as logarithms of the natural sines, tangents, etc.
Hutton.
Webster 1828 Edition
Artificial
ARTIFI'CIAL
, a.1.
Made or contrived by art, or by human skill and labor, in opposition to natural; as artificial heat or light; an artificial magnet.2.
Feigned, fictitious; not genuine or natural; as artificial tears.3.
Contrived with skill or art.4.
Cultivated; not indigenous; not being of spontaneous growth; as artificial grasses.Artificial arguments, in rhetoric, are arguments invented by the speaker, in distinction from laws, authorities and the like, which are called inartificial arguments of proofs.
Artificial lines, on a sector or scale, are lines so contrived as to represent the logarithmic sines and tangents, which, by the help of the line of numbers, solve, with tolerable exactness, questions in trigonometry, navigation, &c.
Artificial numbers, the same with logarithms.
Definition 2024
artificial
artificial
English
Adjective
artificial (comparative more artificial, superlative most artificial)
- Man-made; of artifice.
- 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
- An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine. But they are nothing like as efficient, and can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three times a week for hours at a time.
- The flowers were artificial, and he thought them rather tacky.
-
- False, misleading.
- Her manner was somewhat artificial.
- Unnatural.
Derived terms
Terms derived from artificial
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Related terms
Translations
man-made
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false, misleading
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unnatural
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See also
Catalan
Etymology
From Latin artificiālis.
Adjective
artificial m, f (masculine and feminine plural artificials)
Derived terms
Galician
Etymology
From Latin artificiālis.
Adjective
artificial m, f (plural artificiais)
Derived terms
Portuguese
Etymology
From Latin artificiālis.
Pronunciation
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ɐɾtifiˈsjaɫ/
- Hyphenation: ar‧ti‧fi‧ci‧al
Adjective
artificial m, f (plural artificiais, comparable)