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made by human skill; produced by humans (opposed to ):
artificial flowers.
imitation; simulated; sham:
artificial vanilla flavoring.
lacking naturalness or spontaneity; forced; contrived; feigned:
an artificial smile.
full of affectation; affected; stilted:
artificial manners; artificial speech.
made without regard to the particular needs of a situation, person, etc.; imposed arbitrarily; unnatural:
artificial rules for dormitory residents.
biology. based on arbitrary, superficial characteristics rather than natural, organic relationships:
an artificial system of cl-ssification.
jewelry. manufactured to resemble a natural gem, in chemical composition or appearance.
compare , (def 11), (def 6).
contemporary examples

note: negative manifestation of this retrograde is overindulgence in that which artificially stills your racing mind.
your week: what the stars predict starsky + c-x august 27, 2011

right now, attempts to broker peace in sudan are artificially divided.
satellites correctly predict military campaign against civilians in sudan akshaya k-mar december 8, 2013

secessionism splits people into parts, artificially separating the voting booth from the synagogue pew.
hiring the next chief rabbi raphael magarik october 4, 2012

and we now know that while others were artificially enhancing their strength, you refused.
i pushed the lance armstrong lie: an open letter to greg lemond mark mckinnon july 30, 2014

the foreclosure rate in new york has been artificially depressed, thanks to a state law p-ssed in august.
new york’s impending real estate doom julie satow november 25, 2008

historical examples

later 24 those miriok which were artificially shaped to human form—buddha-like—came into being.
korean buddhism frederick starr

it is, therefore, quite superfluous to artificially stimulate it.
the s-xual question august forel

the children of parents whose heads have been artificially flattened are not affected by it.
h-m–culture martin luther holbrook

it would be absurd to remodel them artificially after a pattern.
psychotherapy hugo mnsterberg

as the business was lucrative, certain deformities were artificially produced.
quintus claudius, volume 1 of 2 ernst eckstein

adjective
produced by man; not occurring naturally: artificial materials of great strength
made in imitation of a natural product, esp as a subst-tute; not genuine: artificial cream
pretended; -ssumed; insincere: an artificial manner
lacking in spontaneity; affected: an artificial laugh
(biology) relating to superficial characteristics not based on the interrelationships of organisms: an artificial cl-ssification
adv.

early 15c.; see artificial + -ly (2).
adj.

late 14c., in the phrase artificial day “part of the day from sunrise to sunset,” from old french artificial, from latin artificialis “of or belonging to art,” from artificium (see artifice). meaning “made by man” (opposite of natural) is from early 15c. applied to things that are not natural, whether real (artificial light) or not (artificial flowers). artificial insemination dates from 1897. artificial intelligence “the science and engineering of making intelligent machines” was coined in 1956.