artificialar‧ti‧fi‧cial /ˌɑːtɪˈfɪʃəl◂ $ ˌɑːr-/ ●●● S3 adjective [usually before noun] 
artificial flowers artificial light artificial fertilizers2an artificial situation or quality exists because someone has made it exist, and not because it is really necessary: artificial distinctions artificial barriers of gender and race3artificial behaviour is not sincere – used to show disapproval OPP genuine: an artificial smile—artificially adverb: Food prices are being kept artificially low.—artificiality /ˌɑːtəfɪʃiˈæləti $ ˌɑːr-/ noun [uncountable]COLLOCATIONSnounsartificial light/lighting· Energy is being wasted by using artificial lighting when daylight is adequate.artificial sweeteners (=used to make food or drink taste sweeter)· Diet drinks contain artificial sweeteners like saccharin.artificial colours (=used in food)· I try to buy food that is free from artificial colours.artificial flavours· Ice cream often has artificial flavours in it.artificial additives (=used to give food more colour or taste)· Artificial additives such as colourings, sweeteners and flavour enhancers aren’t permitted in baby foods.artificial preservatives (=used to preserve food)· This jam has no artificial preservatives.artificial flowers· a vase of stiff-looking artificial flowersan artificial environment· Animals hate being confined in an artificial environment.artificial grass· artificial grass tennis courtsartificial snow· Some ski resorts use huge amounts of artificial snow.an artificial pitch British English· The club is building a new artificial training pitch at its sports ground.THESAURUSartificial not real or natural, but made to look or work like something real or natural: · artificial flowers· He was given an artificial heart.synthetic made using chemical processes rather than by natural processes: · synthetic fabrics· a synthetic version of the drugman-made made by people – used especially about geographical features and materials: · a man-made lake· man-made fibresfake made to look or seem like something else, especially in order to deceive people: · a fake passport· fake furimitation made to look like something, but not real – used especially about guns, jewellery, and leather: · imitation firearms· imitation pearlsfalse artificial – used especially about teeth, eyelashes, and beards: · a set of false teethsimulated not real, but made to look, sound, or feel real, especially by means of special computers or machines: · a simulated space flightvirtual made, done, seen etc on a computer, rather than in the real world: · a virtual tour of the garden
WORD ORIGINartificial
Origin:
1300-1400 Old French artificiel, from Latin artificialis, from artificium; ➔ ARTIFICEEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- artificial Christmas trees
- artificial sweeteners for coffee
- Carter was saying all the right things, but his smile was artificial, and I knew I couldn't trust him.
- Glen wears an artificial leg.
- High import taxes give their goods an artificial advantage in the market.
- I usually use artificial sweetener in my coffee instead of sugar.
- It took Frank a while to learn to walk with the artificial leg.
- On the surface she seems quite a pleasant woman, but there's something very artificial about her.
- On the table was a vase filled with artificial flowers.
- Our ice cream contains no artificial colors or flavors.
- The juice contains no artificial coloring or flavors.
- The plants can grow just as well in artificial light.
- We have one of those electric heaters with artificial logs.
- A wreath of artificial poppies has been held down by a brick.
- An example, perhaps slightly artificial, would be found in a family photograph.
- Constraint-based programming is an artificial intelligence technique which finds the optimum way to allocate means and resources.
- In front of the grate was a tall electric fire with artificial coals, a high curved back and a triple set of burners.
- Paradoxically the ecological problems deriving from the application of artificial fertilizers are often equally complex and extensive.
- The natural and artificial characterizing ingredients must be named on the labels.
- Through binoculars I had noted the breakwaters of what appeared to be a small artificial harbour just a mile along the coast.
THESAURUS
not real or natural, but made to look or work like something real or natural: · artificial flowers· He was given an artificial heart.
made using chemical processes rather than by natural processes: · synthetic fabrics· a synthetic version of the drug
made by people – used especially about geographical features and materials: · a man-made lake· man-made fibres
made to look or seem like something else, especially in order to deceive people: · a fake passport· fake fur
made to look like something, but not real – used especially about guns, jewellery, and leather: · imitation firearms· imitation pearls
artificial – used especially about teeth, eyelashes, and beards: · a set of false teeth
not real, but made to look, sound, or feel real, especially by means of special computers or machines: · a simulated space flight
made, done, seen etc on a computer, rather than in the real world: · a virtual tour of the garden
Longman Language Activatornot made of natural materials or substances · The juice contains no artificial coloring or flavors.· I usually use artificial sweetener in my coffee instead of sugar.· The plants can grow just as well in artificial light.
synthetic materials or products are made using chemical processes: · The rug is made from a mixture of wool and synthetic fibres.· Many old herbal remedies have disappeared and been replaced by synthetic drugs.· synthetic rubber
made or caused by humans, rather than existing naturally: · The amusement park is built around a man-made lake.· The coat is 80% wool and 20% man-made fibers.· Current weather problems may actually be man-made, a direct result of environmental damage.
processed food has not been left in its natural state, but has been chemically treated, especially in order to preserve it or make it look more attractive: · Processed foods may lack the vitamins and minerals found in fresh produce.· processed cheese· Fully processed canned hams will not spoil and can be kept on the shelf.
made to look real or natural not real or natural, but made to look real or do the job of something real: · On the table was a vase filled with artificial flowers.· We have one of those electric heaters with artificial logs.· It took Frank a while to learn to walk with the artificial leg.
not real - use this about teeth, nails, beards etc: · Nearly a third of adults in the UK have false teeth.· She was heavily made up, with false eyelashes and bright red lipstick.
: fake fur/jewellery/antiques etc (=made to seem like real fur, jewellery etc, especially in order to make people think it is more valuable than it really is) · Her coat had a fake fur collar and cuffs.· You can buy fake Gucci bags all over the city.
use this about materials that look like something valuable, but are actually made of something less expensive: · Ted was wearing an imitation leather jacket. · The dark blue sweater had imitation pearls sewn across the front.
not real, but made to look, feel etc like a real thing, situation, or feeling: · It was one of those horrible simulated-leather 'executive' chairs.· Models of the bridge have been tested under simulated earthquake conditions.
to change your way of speaking or behaving in order to impress people to speak or behave in a way that is not your usual way of speaking or behaving.: be putting it on: · He wasn't really drunk. He was just putting it on.put on something: · Whenever the boss is around she puts on this sick little smile.put on an accent: · Valerie put on a posh accent and asked to see the manager immediately.
someone who is affected is not natural or sincere because they are trying to make people think they are better than they really are: · I can't bear him -- he's so loud and affected.· That stupid affected laugh of hers really annoys me.· She treated her guests with an affected politeness.
formal to behave or speak in a way in which you do not usually behave or speak, especially so that you look more confident or feel better: · When socializing with his co-workers he would assume a hearty, over-bearing manner.· Assuming a carefree air, Luke picked up his jacket and walked to the door.
a person or their behaviour that is artificial is not natural or sincere, because they are pretending to be something that they are not: · Carter was saying all the right things, but his smile was artificial, and I knew I couldn't trust him.· On the surface she seems quite a pleasant woman, but there's something very artificial about her.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE ENTRYnouns Our products are free from artificial additives. a pair of gloves trimmed with fake fur food that contains no artificial preservativesCOLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
1not real or not made of natural things but made to be like something that is real or natural SYN false OPP natural: · Energy is being wasted by using artificial lighting when daylight is adequate.
(=used to make food or drink taste sweeter)· Diet drinks contain artificial sweeteners like saccharin.
(=used in food)· I try to buy food that is free from artificial colours.
· Ice cream often has artificial flavours in it.
(=used to give food more colour or taste)· Artificial additives such as colourings, sweeteners and flavour enhancers aren’t permitted in baby foods.
(=used to preserve food)· This jam has no artificial preservatives.
· a vase of stiff-looking artificial flowers
· Animals hate being confined in an artificial environment.
· artificial grass tennis courts
· Some ski resorts use huge amounts of artificial snow.
British English· The club is building a new artificial training pitch at its sports ground.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES Our products are free from artificial additives.· They were committed to breaking down the artificial barriers to women’s achievement.
· a basket of artificial flowers
a pair of gloves trimmed with fake fur· Nowadays much of what we eat contains artificial ingredients.
(=light produced by lamps)· The office was windowless, lit only by artificial light.
food that contains no artificial preservatives· Many of the phrases that have conventionally been offered as examples seem rather artificial.· I had to accept that was right, although at first it seemed rather artificial to me.· These rather artificial news items were very much the product of the final election campaign.· They made what seemed to me rather artificial efforts to draw me into the conversation.· It must be confessed that this test is a rather artificial one.
NOUN· But that's all - no artificial additives, colourings or preservatives.· There are no artificial additives at all.
· We will reinforce the rights of the individual in the world of work, and break down artificial barriers to advancement.· Such action breaks down the artificial barriers of opposition between male and female.· We are also committed to breaking down artificial barriers to women's advancement based on prejudice or lack of imagination.· The aquifer has no shield of impermeable clay and the proposed artificial barriers would not guarantee success.
· Platelets are studied in an artificial environment and the very process of preparing the platelet sample for study may affect their behaviour.· The reason we create artificial environments instead Of accepting natural ones is that we like our environments to be constant and predictable.· In the second case money was the prime factor, both its getting and spending; it created an artificial environment.· Do you really think the uneducated people they leave behind will be able to keep the artificial environments stable?· Which is really easy to do in artificial environments.
· Paradoxically the ecological problems deriving from the application of artificial fertilizers are often equally complex and extensive.· Controversy has also surrounded the long-term effects of artificial fertilizer on the soil structure.· All the soil does is hold the plants upright, while the crop is fed with artificial fertilizers.· They have thus become the animal equivalents of the plants which are force-fed with artificial fertilizers and sprayed with herbicides and pesticides.· The largest industrial concerns were electronics, computer assembly, artificial fertilizers, machinery, metalworking and textiles.
· A basket of artificial flowers is then placed inside.· You can use it for real or artificial flowers.· The stained-glass windows inside, and the black wrought iron and living or artificial flowers outside, contribute vivid accents.· If artificial flowers are used they must be dusted. 4.· But instead of finding it overgrown with weeds, a pretty posy of artificial flowers stood on the well-groomed plot.
· No doubt the laying of the artificial grass pitch at Newry played a major part in getting their fixtures cleared up early.· Not to mention an artificial grass lawn on the hood and a white picket fence on the front bumper.· None of this would have been possible without the development of a woven artificial grass.· They are manufactured from artificial grass that is sand based so that they are more receptive to well- hit shots.· There will always be a market for artificial grass courts in this country.
· Only one person has survived an operation to implant an artificial heart.· The prospect of artificial hearts replacing reliance on cadaver hearts is already in sight.· So, as an alternative to the implantation of alien or artificial hearts, Daedalus is devising a new auxiliary blood-pump.
· It is the excellent wear characteristics of alumina which are the principal advantage in artificial hip systems.· It is exactly this problem which causes a percentage of artificial hip joint failures.
· There are lesbian couples with children, and increasing numbers of children born as a result of artificial insemination.· Only first conceptions as a result of artificial insemination were used for the analysis.· Subjects - Of 542 women attending the clinic for artificial insemination for the first time, 500 women were eligible for study.· Tiny producers, for example, have little incentive to invest large sums in artificial insemination in order to breed better cattle.· Lesbians who wished to become parents by artificial insemination found themselves pilloried by the media.· It was to do with artificial insemination, but everything about Spake just screams turkey and chicken-choker.
· A lot of people had a lot riding on artificial intelligence.· The game play and artificial intelligence are unmatched in sports video gaming.· In the 1980s, we thought we'd found salvation to our problems in artificial intelligence and expert systems.· We shall need some idea of the status of artificial intelligence.· The trick now is to remove the human element altogether and let artificial intelligence take care of the rest.· Many researchers are suggesting that the real power of artificial intelligence lies in the blending of expert systems with neural networks.· In the past two decades, work on theoretical and practical aspects of artificial intelligence has stimulated our concepts of mind.· Danny Hillis, an artificial intelligence expert, sees a similar story in the human thumb as a platform for human intelligence.
· A £16.1m dam will hold back a 2.6-mile-long artificial lake to be known as the Roadford Reservoir.· In Texas and Oklahoma, between 1940 and 1975, some-thing like eight million acres of land were submerged by artificial lakes.· The whole spreading fortress was surrounded not just by a moat, but by a deep artificial lake.
· Esperanto See under language: artificial language.· Yet artificial languages never have caught on.· Natural languages arise unconsciously, haphazardly, while artificial languages lack expressiveness.
· When he discovered that I, with two artificial legs, had succeeded he became somewhat uneasy.· At work, she wears artificial legs and walks stiffly with a cane.· I was struck on one of my artificial legs, damaging the calliper.· Much later, I learn that he had an artificial leg and limped, but I never find a trace of him.· They were born joined at the hip and are learning to walk with artificial legs after being separated.· The place gave him some strength and some color and some training in walking with an artificial leg.· I reached for Blyth's artificial leg, lying smooth and pink by the small of his back and in his shadow.· One of them actually had an artificial leg, and carried not only a loaded rifle but a cane.
· More recently, however, the field of artificial life has concentrated on producing lifelike behaviours.· The people on the ship have to create an artificial life form because their computer has failed.· When they become smarter, of course, artificial life constructs will have to go out to work.
· Few people have not woken to the sounds of the dawn chorus nor seen moths drawn to artificial lights as daylight fades.· It should be cultivated in moderately diffused or artificial light.· Official sketches show a small warren of rooms, lit by artificial lights and stuffed with compact biological systems.· Among these is James Casebere, who photographs miniature architectural constructions in artificial light.· Their facial features are indistinguishable, brightly lit though they are by harsh artificial lights.· The algae were cultivated under artificial light.· The room is safe, enclosed, protected from the harsh glare of artificial light.
· He used a solid rich surface of paint and liked the simplified shapes produced by artificial lighting.· Ceilings and walls are painted white and artificial lighting is provided by suspended fluorescent lights from Spectrum.· Nearby was a 400-square-yard warehouse with more plants flourishing in conditions controlled by artificial lighting and automatic watering systems.
· After the war he founded the Disabled Society, lobbying the government to improve the quality of artificial limbs.· Some came on canes and artificial limbs.· What has it been like climbing with artificial limbs?· In much the same way computer simulation has been used in bioengineering in the design of prosthesis such as artificial limbs or hips.· He explains how new technology can make some products, like artificial limbs, lighter.· The main problem in Chechnya today is how to find artificial limbs for amputees.· The only hospital unit that can fit artificial limbs is in Vladikavkaz, in northern Ossetia.
· Bonds probably felt the Giants owed him this consideration, keeping his streak alive for a couple games by artificial means.· By the end of a decade, it requires artificial means of life support.
· Give the child artificial respiration if needed.· They tell you to go on with artificial respiration for ever, for long after you've given up hope.· If you can not detect even the shallowest of breaths, attempt artificial respiration making sure the chest starts to rise.· Not only that, she administered artificial respiration and brought you round, and then came here to get help.
· It is more than that, as artificial selection has made a splendid variety of sizes, shapes, colours and tastes.· Our model, in other words, is strictly a model of artificial selection, not natural selection.· Wallace had no interest in animal breeding and did not model his proposed mechanism on the process of artificial selection.· When you first evolve a new creature by artificial selection in the computer model, it feels like a creative process.
· Add the artificial sweetener to taste if required.· For a number of years, artificial sweeteners were mainly used by diabetics, who bought the products in drugstores.· Taste and add a little sugar or artificial sweetener, if desired.· Why are we content to settle for second-rate flavors, fake chocolates, no-fat cheeses, and chemical-tasting artificial sweeteners?· Sweeten to taste with the artificial sweetener.· As with fat-free products and artificial sweeteners, people will probably compensate for olestra by eating more calories elsewhere in their diets.· Sprinkle a little artificial sweetener on the fruit if desired.· One in five chose decaffeinated tea and coffee while 14% used artificial sweeteners.
· By day the artificial turf in the Miami stadium looks an unnatural green.· They are 38-12 on artificial turf surfaces.· Zeke's big hands cradle the ball on the artificial turf, the laces facing away from the kicker.· Or, on that minuscule patch of the planet covered by artificial turf.· On the artificial turf of the Superdome, Smith raced around him as if he were a lamp post on Bourbon Street.· Jenkins' deteriorating knees are not a good match for the artificial turf at the Kingdome.· For Young to wish death on some one, even the creator of the evil artificial turf, is notable.
· Hypoglycaemia was corrected and artificial ventilation started, and he was brought to our clinic.· Resuscitation restored the circulation, but the patient required artificial ventilation and inotropic support thereafter.· She had well established adult respiratory distress syndrome, requiring artificial ventilation with 90% fractional inspired oxygen.
artificial flowers artificial light artificial fertilizers2an artificial situation or quality exists because someone has made it exist, and not because it is really necessary: artificial distinctions artificial barriers of gender and race3artificial behaviour is not sincere – used to show disapproval OPP genuine: an artificial smile—artificially adverb: Food prices are being kept artificially low.—artificiality /ˌɑːtəfɪʃiˈæləti $ ˌɑːr-/ noun [uncountable]COLLOCATIONSnounsartificial light/lighting· Energy is being wasted by using artificial lighting when daylight is adequate.artificial sweeteners (=used to make food or drink taste sweeter)· Diet drinks contain artificial sweeteners like saccharin.artificial colours (=used in food)· I try to buy food that is free from artificial colours.artificial flavours· Ice cream often has artificial flavours in it.artificial additives (=used to give food more colour or taste)· Artificial additives such as colourings, sweeteners and flavour enhancers aren’t permitted in baby foods.artificial preservatives (=used to preserve food)· This jam has no artificial preservatives.artificial flowers· a vase of stiff-looking artificial flowersan artificial environment· Animals hate being confined in an artificial environment.artificial grass· artificial grass tennis courtsartificial snow· Some ski resorts use huge amounts of artificial snow.an artificial pitch British English· The club is building a new artificial training pitch at its sports ground.THESAURUSartificial not real or natural, but made to look or work like something real or natural: · artificial flowers· He was given an artificial heart.synthetic made using chemical processes rather than by natural processes: · synthetic fabrics· a synthetic version of the drugman-made made by people – used especially about geographical features and materials: · a man-made lake· man-made fibresfake made to look or seem like something else, especially in order to deceive people: · a fake passport· fake furimitation made to look like something, but not real – used especially about guns, jewellery, and leather: · imitation firearms· imitation pearlsfalse artificial – used especially about teeth, eyelashes, and beards: · a set of false teethsimulated not real, but made to look, sound, or feel real, especially by means of special computers or machines: · a simulated space flightvirtual made, done, seen etc on a computer, rather than in the real world: · a virtual tour of the garden