Did you know?
The Difference Between Art and Artifice
Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. 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. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between art and artifice. Artifice comes from artificium, Latin for "artistry, craftmanship, craft, craftiness, and cunning." (That root also gave us the English word artificial.) Artificium, in turn, developed from ars, the Latin root underlying the word art (and related terms such as artist and artisan).
Examples of artifice in a Sentence
Stephen Daw, Billboard, 21 Feb. 2025
Does that ground the film in reality or heighten the the artifice?
—Stuart Miller, Orange County Register, 12 Feb. 2025
The sort of revelatory artifice is exactly what is so often missing from American movies, which, despite ostensible naturalism, lack the feeling of authentic contact with reality—especially of inner realities—which is so abundant in Gómez’s work.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 1 Feb. 2025
The film boasts the same sleek aesthetic as its predecessors, a choice that heightens the artifice of these scenarios.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 28 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for artifice
Cite this Entry
“Artifice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artifice. Accessed 28 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
artifice
noun
Legal Definition
artifice
noun
Share