artifact

artifact
—artifactual /ahr'teuh fak"chooh euhl/, adj.
/ahr"teuh fakt'/, n.
1. any object made by human beings, esp. with a view to subsequent use.
2. a handmade object, as a tool, or the remains of one, as a shard of pottery, characteristic of an earlier time or cultural stage, esp. such an object found at an archaeological excavation.
3. any mass-produced, usually inexpensive object reflecting contemporary society or popular culture: artifacts of the pop rock generation.
4. a substance or structure not naturally present in the matter being observed but formed by artificial means, as during preparation of a microscope slide.
5. a spurious observation or result arising from preparatory or investigative procedures.
6. any feature that is not naturally present but is a product of an extrinsic agent, method, or the like: statistical artifacts that make the inflation rate seem greater than it is.
Also, artefact.
[1815-25; var. of artefact < L phrase arte factum (something) made with skill. See ART, FACT]

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Universalium. 2010.

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