artifices

Noun

artifice (countable and uncountable, plural artifices)

1. Crafty deception.
   • The notion that consequence can be as easily managed as PR is the ultimate artifice and the ultimate delusion.2021 November 21, Charles Hugh Smith, When Everything Is Artifice and PR, Collapse Beckons
2. A trick played out as an ingenious, but artful, ruse.
   • The heightened worlds of darkly comedic satire and soapy high-school romance make it easy enough to roll with unrealistic casting choices—and that goes for stage musicals, too, where some level of artifice is built into the format.2021 September 22, Caroline Siede, “Dear Evan Hansen is a misfire on just about every level”, in AV Club
3. A strategic maneuver that uses some clever means to avoid detection or capture.
4. A tactical move to gain advantage.
5. Skill; cleverness.
6. (archaic) Something made with technical skill; a contrivance.

See all 7 meanings of artifice