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The Difference Between Art and Artifice
Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. Artifice stresses creative skill or intelligence, but it also implies a sense of falseness and trickery. Art generally rises above such falseness, suggesting instead an unanalyzable creative force. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between art and artifice. Artifice comes from artificium, Latin for "artistry, craftmanship, craft, craftiness, and cunning." (That root also gave us the English word artificial.) Artificium, in turn, developed from ars, the Latin root underlying the word art (and related terms such as artist and artisan).
Examples of artifice in a Sentence
Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 25 May 2026
Lama, a social activist of several decades, sheds any sense of artifice in playing the headstrong Pirati, a woman whose convictions are as compelling as her desires, her vulnerabilities and even her hypocrisies.
—Siddhant Adlakha, Variety, 20 May 2026
Shooting in the real homes, clubs and neighborhoods that birthed these characters strips away distracting artifice, allowing the slowburn emotional stakes to take over.
—Sophie Monks Kaufman, IndieWire, 20 May 2026
As Suzanne studies the dead woman’s diaries to sustain the illusion, her performance becomes increasingly intimate, and increasingly dangerous, as genuine feelings begin to blur the line between artifice and truth.
—Scott Roxborough, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for artifice
Cite this Entry
“Artifice.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artifice. Accessed 31 May. 2026.
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