Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Artificial
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, flowersArtificial
strifeLives in these touches, livelier than life.
Shakespeare
2.
Feigned; fictitious; assumed; affected; not genuine.
“Artificial tears.” Shak.
3.
Artful; cunning; crafty.
[Obs.]
Shak.
4.
Cultivated; not indigenous; not of spontaneous growth;
as,
. artificial
grassesGibbon.
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 Linnæan 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.
Webster 1828 Edition
Artificial
ARTIFI'CIAL
, a.1.
Made or contrived by art, or by human skill and labor, in opposition to natural; as artificial heat or light; an artificial magnet.2.
Feigned, fictitious; not genuine or natural; as artificial tears.3.
Contrived with skill or art.4.
Cultivated; not indigenous; not being of spontaneous growth; as artificial grasses.Artificial arguments, in rhetoric, are arguments invented by the speaker, in distinction from laws, authorities and the like, which are called inartificial arguments of proofs.
Artificial lines, on a sector or scale, are lines 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, &c.
Artificial numbers, the same with logarithms.