Talk:artificial

RFV discussion: July–October 2022

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artificial

Sense 3: unnatural. This needs to be distinct from sense 1 ("man-made; of artifice" e.g. artificial flowers) and from sense 2 ("false, misleading, fake", e.g. a person speaking with an artificial manner). I hardly see what can be left! Equinox ◑ 19:37, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Natural is definitely an antonym of artificial, so it is not unnatural to see unnatural being considered a synonym. It is furthermore not uncommon to see a distinction being called “artificial”, for example the distinction between alcohol and other drugs,^[1] or the distinction between a practical and a theoretical project.^[2] This is a judgemental label, unlike the neutral sense 1, but it is not nearly as strong as sense 2 and more similar to the judgemental use of the label unnatural. Indeed, a distinction may likewise be labelled unnatural, like the distinction between regular warfare and irregular war.^[3] The label can be replaced by artificial without substantive change of meaning.  --Lambiam 22:44, 14 July 2022 (UTC)

Right. I think the wording of the senses needs to be improved to convey the distinction more clearer, but I agree there seems to be a distinction between these. (Conversely, if anyone wants to propose a wording that would allow the RFVed sense to be merged into sense 2, I'm open to the idea that that might be possible with the right wording.) - -sche (discuss) 22:49, 20 July 2022 (UTC)

I've revised the definitions and cited this, I'd say. Other comprehensive dictionaries generally also make this distinction (though in subtly different ways which suggest it might itself autologically be a little artificial). - -sche (discuss) 03:49, 23 August 2022 (UTC)

RFV-passed This, that and the other (talk) 08:54, 7 October 2022 (UTC)