artificial

A2 Topic:People & Society

US /ˌɑːr.təˈfɪʃ.l̩/ UK /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.l̩/ See IPA manual

Freq #6741

Meanings

1

adj
Made by people rather than occurring in nature.

The flowers were artificial but looked very real.
2

adj
Not sincere; pretended or false.

Her friendly smile seemed cold and artificial.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · made by people rather than... man-made synthetic

2 adj · not sincere; pretended or... fake insincere contrived

More artificiousfactitious

Word family

Derived forms artificialismartificialistartificialityartificializationartificializeartificiallyartificialnessartilectbioartificialinartificialnonartificialoverartificial

Related forms artifact artifice artificer fake

Common collocations

artificial intelligence Adjective + noun

Etymology

From Middle English artificial (“man-made”) via Old French (modern French artificiel), from Latin artificiālis from artificium (“skill”), from artifex, from ars (“skill”), and -fex, from facere (“to make”). Displaced native Old English cræftlīċ.

*h₂er- Proto-Indo-European artificial Middle English artificiālis Latin *dʰeh₁- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

External links

# artificial

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** /ˌɑːr.təˈfɪʃ.l̩/
**IPA (UK):** /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.l̩/
**Frequency rank:** 6741

## Meanings
1. Made by people rather than occurring in nature.
2. Not sincere; pretended or false.

## Examples
- The flowers were artificial but looked very real.
- Her friendly smile seemed cold and artificial.

## Synonyms
- artificious
- factitious

## Derived Forms
- artificialism
- artificialist
- artificiality
- artificialization
- artificialize
- artificially
- artificialness
- artilect
- bioartificial
- inartificial
- nonartificial
- overartificial

## Related Forms
- artifact
- artifice
- artificer
- fake

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *h₂er-
- Root: artificial
- Root: artificiālis
- Root: *dʰeh₁-

## Etymology
From Middle English artificial (“man-made”) via Old French (modern French artificiel), from Latin artificiālis from artificium (“skill”), from artifex, from ars (“skill”), and -fex, from facere (“to make”). Displaced native Old English cræftlīċ.

## AI Etymology
Artificial comes from Middle English artificial (“man-made”) via Old French (modern French artificiel), from Latin artificiālis from artificium (“skill”), from artifex, from ars (“skill”), and -fex, from facere (“to make”). Displaced native Old English cræftlīċ. The historical line also includes Proto-Indo-European *h₂er- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-.

## Topics
- People & Society

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artificial

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