any object made by human beings, especially with a view to subsequent use.
a handmade object, as a tool, or the remains of one, as a shard of pottery, characteristic of an earlier time or cultural stage, especially such an object found at an archaeological excavation.
any mass-produced, usually inexpensive object reflecting contemporary society or popular culture: artifacts of the pop rock generation.
a substance or structure not naturally present in the matter being observed but formed by artificial means, as during preparation of a microscope slide.
a spurious observation or result arising from preparatory or investigative procedures.
any feature that is not naturally present but is a product of an extrinsic agent, method, or the like: statistical artifacts that make the inflation rate seem greater than it is.
Digital Technology. a visible or audible anomaly introduced in the processing or transmission of digital data: Your computer might need a new graphics card if you see green pixels where you should not, or other graphics artifacts.Ghosting artifacts in an MRI are usually the result of patient movement during a scan.
verb (used with object)
Digital Technology. to introduce a visible or audible anomaly in (an image or audio file) during the processing or transmission of digital data: Compression may artifact your recording with clicking or echoing sounds.The video appears to be heavily artifacted.
Also especially British, ar·te·fact .
Origin of artifact
First recorded in 1815–25; variant of artefact (a spelling first recorded in 1625–50 ) from Latin phrase arte factum “(something) made with skill.” See art1, fact
With offices already reconfiguring open plans, and the possibility that common spaces like snack bars and conference rooms will be off-limits, the literal watercooler conversation could be an artifact of a bygone era.
Remote workers want to re-create those watercooler moments, virtually|Tanya Basu|August 17, 2020|MIT Technology Review
She worked from attic rooms in the American Museum of Natural History in New York, her main employer, in a nest of field notebooks and tagged artifacts, handwritten letters and typed mimeographs, thousands upon thousands of pages and objects.
Gender Is What You Make of It - Issue 88: Love & Sex|Charles King|August 5, 2020|Nautilus
Many philosophers and mathematicians at the time thought that arithmetic was merely an artifact of human psychology.
Animals That Can Do Math Understand More Language Than We Think|Erik Nelson|June 14, 2020|Singularity Hub
Lombard, however, reserves judgment on the Sri Lankan bone points until high-resolution CT scans are used to probe for damage from high-speed impacts inside the artifacts.
Clues to the earliest known bow-and-arrow hunting outside Africa have been found|Bruce Bower|June 12, 2020|Science News
The researchers turned up cultural artifacts along with the fossils.
This cave hosted the oldest known human remains in Europe|Bruce Bower|June 12, 2020|Science News For Students
Today, a lack of provenance often means one of two things: an artifact is forged or an artifact was illegally acquired.
Dismembering History: The Shady Online Trade in Ancient Texts|Candida Moss|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Given how infrequently new copies of the map appeared on the market, collectors would bid handsomely for the artifact.
The Million-Dollar Map Thief|Nick Romeo|July 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This isn't a policy in any coherent sense of that word; it's an artifact of resentment, a self-defeating relic from another era.
Obama Should End America’s Stupidest Foreign Policy: Isolating Cuba|Robert Shrum|February 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The essay itself seems an artifact of a dying tradition, and not just in its grandiosity.
In Defense of Jonathan Franzen|Michelle Goldberg|September 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
There is a huge overlap, and this firewall is very much an artifact.
America’s Depression Diagnoses Epidemic and How to Fix It|Jesse Singal|March 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It was an artifact—a crumbling ruin, the remnant of an ancient structure whose original appearance I could not fathom.
Where the World is Quiet|Henry Kuttner
Finds from oystershell and artifact layer beneath topsoil southeast of the existing house.
Contributions From the Museum of History and Technology|Ivor Noel Hume
Names and code numbers were assigned to each type of artifact.
Handbook of Alabama Archaeology: Part I Point Types|James W. Cambron
This artifact reflects silver and pewter salt forms of about 1725.
The Cultural History of Marlborough, Virginia|C. Malcolm Watkins
From the Tank Site the artifact yield per cubic foot almost doubled that of the 1947 season.
The Topanga Culture Final Report on Excavations, 1948|A. E. Treganza
A structure or substance not normally present but produced by an external agent or action, such as a structure seen in a microscopic specimen after fixation that is not present in the living tissue.
A skin lesion produced or perpetuated by self-inflicted action.
An object produced or shaped by human craft, especially a tool, weapon, or ornament of archaeological or historical interest.
An artificial product or effect observed in a natural system, especially one introduced by the technology used in scientific investigation or by experimental error.