artificial
    adj 1: contrived by art rather than nature; "artificial
           flowers"; "artificial flavoring"; "an artificial
           diamond"; "artificial fibers"; "artificial sweeteners"
           [syn: artificial, unreal] [ant: natural]
    2: artificially formal; "that artificial humility that her
       husband hated"; "contrived coyness"; "a stilted letter of
       acknowledgment"; "when people try to correct their speech
       they develop a stilted pronunciation" [syn: artificial,
       contrived, hokey, stilted]
    3: not arising from natural growth or characterized by vital
       processes

Artificial \Ar`ti*fi"cial\, a. [L. artificialis, fr. artificium:
   cf. F. artificiel. See Artifice.]
   1. Made or contrived by art; produced or modified by human
      skill and labor, in opposition to natural; as, artificial
      heat or light, gems, salts, minerals, fountains, flowers.
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            Artificial strife
            Lives in these touches, livelier than life. --Shak.
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   2. Feigned; fictitious; assumed; affected; not genuine.
      "Artificial tears." --Shak.
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   3. Artful; cunning; crafty. [Obs.] --Shak.
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   4. Cultivated; not indigenous; not of spontaneous growth; as,
      artificial grasses. --Gibbon.
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   Artificial arguments (Rhet.), arguments invented by the
      speaker, in distinction from laws, authorities, and the
      like, which are called inartificial arguments or proofs.
      --Johnson.

   Artificial classification (Science), an arrangement based
      on superficial characters, and not expressing the true
      natural relations species; as, "the artificial system" in
      botany, which is the same as the Linn[ae]an system.

   Artificial horizon. See under Horizon.

   Artificial light, any light other than that which proceeds
      from the heavenly bodies.

   Artificial lines, lines on a sector or scale, so contrived
      as to represent the logarithmic sines and tangents, which,
      by the help of the line of numbers, solve, with tolerable
      exactness, questions in trigonometry, navigation, etc.

   Artificial numbers, logarithms.

   Artificial person (Law). See under Person.

   Artificial sines, tangents, etc., the same as logarithms
      of the natural sines, tangents, etc. --Hutton.
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ARTIFICIAL. What is the result of, or relates to, the arts; opposed to
natural; thus we say a corporation is an artificial person, in opposition to
a natural person. Artificial accession is the uniting one property to
another by art, opposed to a simple natural union. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 503.