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

“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

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

A filming of Puccini’s opera is meant to add yet another layer of context to the issues of racial artificiality in opera.

From Los Angeles Times

This outsized reaction to a small-batch competition underscores the artificiality of this new right-wing rage boycott.

From Salon

More About Artificiality

What does artificiality mean?

Artificiality is the quality of being artificial—made or manufactured as opposed to occurring naturally. Artificial is often used as the opposite of natural. A close synonym of artificial is synthetic.

This sense of the word is often used in the context of food to describe things like ingredients, flavors, additives, and preservatives that are chemically processed. Food packaging often specifies whether a product has natural or artificial flavors (or both). An artificial sweetener is a kind of chemical used as a substitute for sugar, such as in diet sodas.

Artificial is not only used in the context of food. Artificial turf is a grasslike surface used for sports playing fields. Artificial diamonds are those that are manufactured, as opposed to those that have developed through natural processes in the earth. Artificial flowers are often used as decorations. Artificial intelligence generally refers to the ability of a computer to function in a way that mimics or is likened to the human mind.

Sometimes, artificial is used in a more negative way to describe something as fake or imitation, as in Something about this tastes artificial. 

This sense of the word is sometimes used figuratively to describe something as being faked, phony, or contrived—the opposite of real or genuine, as in an artificial smile.

Artificiality can be used in all of these contexts.

Example: When designing this material, I tried to avoid any sense of artificiality—I wanted it to feel completely real.

Where does artificiality come from?

The first records of the word artificiality in its modern sense come from around 1760. It ultimately comes from the Latin artificiālis, meaning “belonging to art,” from artificium, meaning “skill.” (The related word artifice can refer to trickery or inventiveness.)

Artificial is typically used to indicate that the thing it describes was made and especially to contrast it with a natural version of that thing that grew or developed naturally. Like artificial, artificiality can be used in both neutral and negative ways, but it is perhaps more likely to be used in a negative way to criticize something that doesn’t feel or seem natural or genuine.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to artificiality?

• artificial (adjective)

What are some synonyms for artificiality?

• unnaturalness

What are some words that share a root or word element with artificiality? 

 

• artificial intelligence
• artificial turf
• artificial life
• artifice
• art

What are some words that often get used in discussing artificiality?

• insincerity
• manufactured
• synthetic
• fake
• chemical
• natural
• ingredient
• flavor
• flavoring
• preservative
• additive

How is artificiality used in real life?

Artificiality can be used in both neutral and negative ways. When used negatively, it’s used in the criticism of things that are not natural or genuine.

When mixing it up at home, always use fresh ingredients & stay away from store-bought mixers. There's no room for artificiality at your bar.

— Tanqueray (@Tanquerayusa) April 30, 2013

This is exactly it. Next push of social media might move away from artificiality to reality/honesty.

Faking your personality is quite hard on live video. https://t.co/felUZFcfDT

— ؜ (@levelsio) May 16, 2020

The framing of this film is illustrative of the artificiality of this world but also responds to the fact that Steve himself cannot distinguish a simulated cinematic illusion from reality.https://t.co/07VESJiGZN

— Curiosity Shots (@Curiosity_Shots) November 12, 2020

 

Try using artificiality!

Is artificiality used correctly in the following sentence?

There is so much artificiality in our foods these days, but I prefer natural ingredients.