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Definition of artifice :
1. A handicraft; a trade; art of making.
2. Artful or skillful contrivance.
3. Crafty device; an artful, ingenious, or elaborate trick. [ Now the usual meaning.]
4. Workmanship; a skillfully contrived work.
Synonyms:
wile, cunningness, blind, finesse, imposture, adroitness, duplicity, scheme, sneakiness, means, caginess, cunning, masterfulness, foxiness, artfulness, deftness, sleight, smoke and mirrors, guilefulness, misconduct, corruption, art, cheat, artistry, gambit, play, take-in, honest, fraud, cleverness, gamesmanship, cheating, crookery, subtleness, knack, fakery, cozenage, gimmick, skulduggery, deceitfulness, dupery, hanky-panky, legerdemain, chicane, wiliness, foul play, double-dealing, deceit, shenanigan, canniness, dissimulation, skillfulness, crookedness, dissembling, guile, jig, jugglery, deviousness, slickness, chicanery, adeptness, invention, flimflam, dishonesty, craftiness, slyness, subtlety, fetch, deceptiveness, jiggery-pokery, craft, juggle
skill (part of speech: noun)
ingenuity, skill, study at, inventiveness, ability
stratagem (part of speech: noun)
plot, wrinkle, tactics, ruse, trick of the trade, game, contrivance, stratagem, machination, deception, subterfuge, dodge, maneuver, device, trick, trickery, Trojan horse, feint, trap, ploy, pitfall
Usage examples:
- For although it has already been said, ladies, that vice is common to men and women alike, yet will a subtle artifice be more readily and adroitly devised by a woman than by a man Of this I am now about to give you an instance." - "The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. IV. (of V.)", Margaret, Queen Of Navarre.
- She became a young lady of fortune, in love with Robert, and concealed by the artifice of the offending gentleman whom Robert had challenged. - "The Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith", George Meredith.
- This artifice of Servien united the Prince to the Cardinal, because he found himself obliged to defend himself against the Frondeurs, who, as he believed, sought to assassinate him. - "The Memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, Complete", Jean Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz.
