ARTIFICIAL

artificial, contrived, hokey, stilted

(adjective) artificially formal; “that artificial humility that her husband hated”; “contrived coyness”; “a stilted letter of acknowledgment”; “when people try to correct their speech they develop a stilted pronunciation”

artificial, unreal

(adjective) contrived by art rather than nature; “artificial flowers”; “artificial flavoring”; “an artificial diamond”; “artificial fibers”; “artificial sweeteners”

artificial

(adjective) not arising from natural growth or characterized by vital processes

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

artificial (comparative more artificial, superlative most artificial)

Man-made; of artifice.

False, misleading.

Unnatural.

Synonyms

• artificious

Antonyms

• (unnatural): natural

Source: Wiktionary

Ar`ti*fi"cial, a. Etym: [L. artificialis, fr. artificium: cf. F. artificiel. See Artifice.]

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, flowers. Artificial strife Lives in these touches, livelier than life. Shak.

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 grasses. Gibbon. 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, tangents, etc. Hutton.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition