[ad_1] noun
- a clever trick or stratagem; a cunning, crafty device or expedient; wile.
- trickery; guile; craftiness.
- cunning; ingenuity; inventiveness: a drawing-room comedy crafted with artifice and elegance.
- a skillful or artful contrivance or expedient.
noun
- a clever expedient; ingenious stratagem
- crafty or subtle deception
- skill; cleverness
- a skilfully contrived device
- obsolete craftsmanship
1530s, “workmanship, the making of anything by craft or skill,” from Middle French artifice “skill, cunning” (14c.), from Latin artificium “a profession, trade, employment, craft; making by art,” from artifex (genitive artificis) “craftsman, artist,” from ars “art” (see art (n.)) + facere “do” (see factitious). Meaning “device, trick” (the usual modern sense) is from 1650s.