ar·ti·fi·cial

(är′tə-fĭsh′əl)

adj.

a. Made by humans, especially in imitation of something natural: an artificial sweetener that replaces sugar; artificial flowers.

b. Not arising from natural or necessary causes; contrived or arbitrary: "Hausa [in Niger] ... are separated from their brethren in Nigeria by a porous and artificial border that the colonial powers left behind" (Jeffrey Tayler).

2. Affected or insincere: an artificial smile.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin artificiālis, belonging to art, from artificium, craftsmanship; see artifice.]

ar′ti·fi′ci·al′i·ty (-fĭsh′ē-ăl′ĭ-tē) n.

ar′ti·fi′cial·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Adv.

artificially - not according to nature; not by natural means; "artificially induced conditions"

by artificial means, unnaturally

naturally - according to nature; by natural means; without artificial help; "naturally grown flowers"

Translations

artificiellement

mesterségesen

artificialmente

искусственно

umelo

artificially

[ˌɑːtɪˈfɪʃəlɪ] ADV

1. (= by synthetic means) → artificialmente

2. (fig) → con afectación

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

artificially

[ˌɑː^rtɪˈfɪʃ^əli] adv [keep, create, boost] → artificiellement; [low, high] → artificiellement; [induce, create, inseminate, colour, sweeten] → artificiellementartificial respiration n → respiration f artificielle

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

artificially

adv → künstlich; (= insincerely) → gekünstelt

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

artificially

[ˌɑːtɪˈfɪʃ/əlɪ] adv (gen) → artificialmente; (behave, smile) → artificiosamente

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

artificial

(aːtiˈfiʃəl) adjective

made by man; not natural; not real. artificial flowers; Did you look at the colour in artificial light or in daylight?

artiˈficially adverb

ˌartificiˈality (-ʃiˈӕ-) noun

artificial respiration

the process of forcing air into and out of the lungs eg of a person who has almost drowned.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Suspicions that the mind of itself gathers, are but buzzes; but suspicions that are artificially nourished, and put into men's heads, by the tales and whisperings of others, have stings.

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It would be such a vacuum as cannot be artificially produced; for if we pump the air from a receiver there remains the luminiferous ether.

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Pierre during the last two years, as a result of his continual absorption in abstract interests and his sincere contempt for all else, had acquired in his wife's circle, which did not interest him, that air of unconcern, indifference, and benevolence toward all, which cannot be acquired artificially and therefore inspires involuntary respect.

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That these processes are often injurious to the fertility of a plant cannot be doubted; for Gartner gives in his table about a score of cases of plants which he castrated, and artificially fertilised with their own pollen, and(excluding all cases such as the Leguminosae, in which there is an acknowledged difficulty in the manipulation) half of these twenty plants had their fertility in some degree impaired.

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Her little neck and arms were bare, and her hair, artificially crimped, stood out like fluffy black plumes over her head.

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These effects were still produced if the parts in question were removed from the body and kept alive artificially.*

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Spenser, however, soon outgrew this folly and in 1579 published the collection of poems which, as we have already said, is commonly taken as marking the beginning of the great Elizabethan literary period, namely 'The Shepherd's Calendar.' This is a series of pastoral pieces (eclogues, Spenser calls them, by the classical name) twelve in number, artificially assigned one to each month in the year.

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Erskine, having escaped by her marriage from the vile caste in which she was relatively poor and artificially unhappy and ill-conditioned, is now, as the pretty wife of an art-critic, relatively rich, as well as pleasant, active, and in sound health.

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At intervals white globes hung from the ceiling--many of them cracked and smashed--which suggested that originally the place had been artificially lit.

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Doran did his work well--did it with adequate "love." These Annals of the English Stage, from Thomas Betterton to Edmund [74] Kean, are full of the colours of life in their most emphatic and motley contrasts, as is natural in proportion as the stage itself concentrates and artificially intensifies the character and conditions of ordinary life.

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After the long hours of artificially heated rooms, there was something particularly soothing about the fresh sweetness of the early spring morning.

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Such frizzling and powdering and sticking up of hair, such delicate complexions artificially preserved and mended, such gallant swords to look at, and such delicate honour to the sense of smell, would surely keep anything going, for ever and ever.

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