artificiality

[ ahr-tuh-fish-ee-al-i-tee ]

noun

, plural ar·ti·fi·ci·al·i·ties.

1. artificial quality.
2. an artificial thing or trait:

   artificialities of speech.

Other Words From

• over·arti·fici·ali·ty noun plural overartificialities
• super·arti·fici·ali·ty noun plural superartificialities

Word History and Origins

Origin of artificiality¹

First recorded in 1755–65; artificial + -ity

Example Sentences

Digital memory prompts, in their artificiality and unpredictability, might interfere with forgetting.

From Slate

“We talked about possibly doing a surreal yellow, almost postapocalyptic look, but it just had this artificiality that we didn’t like, so we leaned into real photography as a starting point.”

From Los Angeles Times

I was so flummoxed by the artificiality of the noises entering my ears that I couldn’t concentrate on what I was saying, let alone what my students were asking.

From Slate

The artificiality of the protagonist’s interactions made me wonder if the whole play might be an AI dream.

From Los Angeles Times

On the screen you get melodrama, it’s artificiality made obvious.

From Los Angeles Times