Synonyms for artificial
- adjective
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Unnatural
unnatural, factitious, fake, synthetic, contrived, false, simulated, affected, stilted, spurious, forced, fictitious, bogus, strained, feigned, counterfeit, illegitimate, theatrical, hokey informal US, sham, assumed, pretended
2. Ersatz — man-made; made by humans; of artifice
man-made, ersatz, colored US, coloured UK, manufactured, unreal, concocted, fabricated, painted
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Man-made; made by humans; of artifice.
The flowers were artificial, and he thought them rather tacky.
- adj. 2
Insincere; fake, forced, or feigned.
Her manner was somewhat artificial.
Example sentences
- fake Many consumer reviews of books on Amazon are fake.
- synthetic I only ever buy synthetic brushes because I'm vegan.
- unnatural This sentence sounds unnatural to me as an American.
- ersatz They didn't have real coffee, so they drank ersatz.
- conventional Shale gas is more expensive than conventional gas.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| artificial | falling | |
| fake | rising | |
| synthetic | falling | |
| unnatural | rising | |
| factitious | rising | |
| ersatz | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- fake1, sham1
- 5 letters
- false1, bogus2, hokey2
- 6 letters
- forced1, hollow2, unreal2, ersatz2
- 7 letters
- assumed2, painted2, colored2, stilted2, feigned1
- 8 letters
- affected3, coloured2, strained1, spurious3
- 9 letters
- synthetic3, pretended3, unnatural4, simulated4, contrived2, concocted3
- 10 letters
- theatrical4, fabricated4, fictitious3, factitious3
- 11 letters
- counterfeit3
- 12 letters
- conventional4, manufactured4, illegitimate5
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (bogus2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- artificiel
- Italiano
- artificiale
- Español
- artificial
- Català
- artificial