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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Artifice \Ar"ti*fice\, noun [L. artificium, fr. artifex artificer; ars, artis, art + facere to make: cf. F. artifice.]
1. A handicraft; a trade; art of making. [Obs.]
2. Workmanship; a skillfully contrived work.
The material universe . . . in the artifice of God, the artifice of the best Mechanist. --Cudworth.
3. Artful or skillful contrivance.
His [Congreve's] plots were constructed without much artifice. --Craik.
4. Crafty device; an artful, ingenious, or elaborate trick.
Note: [Now the usual meaning.]
Those who were conscious of guilt employed numerous artifices for the purpose of averting inquiry. --Macaulay.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
artifice
noun: a deceptive maneuver (especially to avoid capture) [syn: {ruse}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
211 Moby Thesaurus words for "artifice": Gongorism, Italian hand, Machiavellianism, action, acuteness, ad hoc measure, adeptness, adroitness, affectation, affectedness, ambidexterity, answer, art, artful dodge, artfulness, artificiality, astuteness, bad faith, bag of tricks, blind, bluff, bosey, cabal, cageyness, callidity, canniness, catch, chicane, chicanery, chouse, cleverness, collusion, complicity, complot, confederacy, connivance, connivery, conspiracy, contrivance, contriving, countermove, counterplot, coup, course of action, covin, craft, craftiness, cunning, cunningness, curve, curve-ball, cute trick, deceit, deceitfulness, deception, deep-laid plot, demarche, design, device, dirty deal, dirty trick, dishonesty, dissimulation, dodge, dodgery, double-dealing, doubleness, doubleness of heart, duplicity, effort, engineering, euphemism, euphuism, expedient, faithlessness, fakement, falseheartedness, falseness, fast deal, feint, fetch, ficelle, finagling, fine Italian hand, finesse, foul play, foxiness, frame-up, gambit, game, gamesmanship, gimmick, googly, grift, guile, hocus-pocus, hyperelegance, improbity, improvisation, ingeniousness, ingenuity, insidiousness, intrigue, inventiveness, joker, juggle, jugglery, jury-rig, jury-rigged expedient, keenness, knavery, last expedient, last resort, last shift, little game, low cunning, machination, makeshift, maneuver, maneuvering, manipulation, manneredness, mannerism, means, measure, move, one-upmanship, originality, overelaboration, overelegance, overniceness, overrefinement, pass, pettifoggery, pettifogging, pis aller, plot, plotting, ploy, preciosity, preciousness, pretentiousness, proficiency, purism, quickness, racket, rascality, readiness, red herring, resort, resource, resourcefulness, rigging, ruse, satanic cunning, scheme, schemery, scheming, scurvy trick, shake-up, sharp practice, sharpness, shift, shiftiness, shrewdness, skill, skulduggery, sleight, sleight of hand, sleight-of-hand trick, slipperiness, slyness, sneakiness, solution, sophistry, stealth, stealthiness, step, stopgap, stratagem, strategy, stroke, stroke of policy, subterfuge, subtilty, subtleness, subtlety, supercherie, suppleness, tactic, temporary expedient, treachery, trick, trickery, trickiness, trump, two-facedness, underhand dealing, underhandedness, underplot, unnaturalness, wariness, web of intrigue, wile, wiles, wiliness, wily device, wire-pulling, wit, working hypothesis, working proposition
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