# artificial

Pronunciation: US say "ar-tuh-FISH-uhl" /ˌɑː(ɹ).təˈfɪʃ.əl/; UK say "ah-tuh-FISH-uhl" /ˌɑː(ɹ).təˈfɪʃ.əl/

## Adjective

1. Made by humans rather than occurring naturally; produced through human craft or artifice.
   - Simple: Made by people instead of happening in nature.
   - _The stadium uses an artificial turf that needs no watering._
   - _Chemists developed an artificial sweetener to replace sugar in the recipe._
2. Insincere; put on or forced rather than genuine in feeling or expression.
   - Simple: Fake or forced, not coming from real feeling.
   - _The politician's warmth felt artificial to the seasoned reporters covering him._
   - _She thanked them in an artificial tone that fooled no one._
3. Imposed arbitrarily, without regard for the specific facts or normal circumstances of a person or situation.
   - Simple: Forced by a rule instead of fitting what a person or case really needs.
   - _Critics called the spending cap an artificial barrier disconnected from real needs._
   - _The contest's artificial rules favored speed over the skill it claimed to test._
4. Of a classification, grouping organisms by selected, easily observed features rather than by their natural relationships.
   - Simple: Grouping living things by easy-to-spot traits, not by how they are truly related.
   - _Field guides often rely on an artificial arrangement that groups species by superficial traits._
   - _The botanist warned that an artificial grouping can place unrelated plants side by side._

## Other meanings

- (adjective) Of a bid or call in bridge: conveying an agreed conventional meaning rather than its natural meaning, such as length in the suit named.

## Origin

From Middle English artificial ("man-made"), borrowed via Old French from Latin artificiālis, based on artificium ("skill"), from artifex, formed from ars ("skill") and facere ("to make"). It displaced the native Old English word cræftlīċ.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/artificial (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).