artifices
Cunning ploys employed
Artifices is the plural of artifice, meaning clever tricks or stratagems, often with connotations of deception or cunning: the artifices of propaganda, She saw through his artifices immediately.
The word can also refer to skillful or artful contrivances more neutrally—ingenious devices or clever constructions: the artifices of poetry, architectural artifices that maximize natural light.
Deliberate deception or fraud
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
chicanery · cunning · ruse · stratagem · wile · feint · pretense · sleight
Handmade work product
- craftsmanshipSkill in making objects
- contrivanceClever invention or scheme
- constructionProcess of building something
- fabricationDeliberately untrue statement
workmanship · mechanism · apparatus · device · gadgetry · creation · assembly · metalwork
Atmospheric optical deception
- phantasmagoriaShifting sequence of illusions
- simulacrumImitative stand-in for reality
- trompe l'oeilRealistic optical illusion art
- stage magicPerformed illusory feats
special effect · optical illusion · visual trickery · smoke and mirrors · prestidigitation · legerdemain · conjuring · stagecraft
Methods to achieve goals
- maneuverDeliberate tactical movement
- ployCalculated deceptive tactic
- schemeCalculated strategy, often secretive
- stratagemDeceptive plan for advantage
gambit · machination · calculation · contrivance · orchestration · maneuvering · plotting · intrigue
trickery
Deliberate deception or fraud
- guileSly, strategic dishonesty
- subterfugeDeliberate deception to conceal
- duplicityDeliberate misleading behavior
deceit · chicanery · cunning · ruse · stratagem · wile · feint · pretense · sleight · sham
handiwork
Handmade work product
- craftsmanshipSkill in making objects
- contrivanceClever invention or scheme
- constructionProcess of building something
fabrication · workmanship · mechanism · apparatus · device · gadgetry · creation · assembly · metalwork · clockwork
mirage
Atmospheric optical deception
- phantasmagoriaShifting sequence of illusions
- simulacrumImitative stand-in for reality
- trompe l'oeilRealistic optical illusion art
stage magic · special effect · optical illusion · visual trickery · smoke and mirrors · prestidigitation · legerdemain · conjuring · stagecraft · illusion
tactics
Methods to achieve goals
- maneuverDeliberate tactical movement
- ployCalculated deceptive tactic
- schemeCalculated strategy, often secretive
stratagem · gambit · machination · calculation · contrivance · orchestration · maneuvering · plotting · intrigue · gamesmanship
artificeshonesties
States of being truthful
candor · forthrightness · truthfulness · straightforwardness · openness
artificesnaturalness
Unaffected, uncontrived quality
simplicity · spontaneity · plainness · unaffectedness · unpretentiousness
artificesinabilities
Lacks of capability
incapacities · clumsiness · incompetence · artlessness · ineptitudes
- artificial intelligenceMachines mimicking human thought
- artificial legSynthetic limb replacement
- artificial lightNon-solar brightness source
- artificial sweetenerManufactured sugar replacement
- artificial skinManufactured substitute for epidermis
- artificial satellitesManufactured objects in orbit