artificial

Everyday

1. Artificial means made by people, not natural. tree →
2. Artificial means a copy of something natural: «artificial flowers». tree →
3. Artificial behaviour is not sincere; fake. tree →

In the lessons

In science and design lessons: natural versus artificial (man-made) materials, artificial light, artificial sweeteners. In computing: artificial intelligence (AI) means computer programs that do tasks needing thinking. In stories, an «artificial smile» is fake.

Examples

• The pitch is made of artificial grass. tree →
• Plastic is an artificial material. tree →
• We read by artificial light at night. tree →
• Artificial flowers never need water. tree →
• Artificial intelligence helps computers understand speech. tree →
• Her smile looked artificial. tree →
• This drink has no artificial colours. tree →
• Then the artificial bird had to sing alone. tree →

Note

Spelling: arti-fi-cial (ends in «-cial»). Adverb: artificially. Opposite: natural. Not everything artificial is bad, and not everything natural is safe.