Other forms: artifices
Artifice is clever trickery used to deceive. Without artifice, mere artifice, a piece of artifice.
Without artifice is the commonest phrase and is high praise for somebody straightforward. In criticism it can be neutral and simply mean skilled construction, since the word is built on art.
1nounartificeClever trickery used to deceive.
“The con man used every artifice to win the old lady's trust.”
artifice is a trickery.
Latin artificium means a craft or skill, from ars, art, plus facere, to make.
Proto-Indo-European
*dʰeh₁-
Latin
artificium
Middle French
artifice
English, today
artifice
From Middle French artifice, from Latin artificium.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA