artificialize

artificialize

The city's expansion began to artificialize the once-wild coastline.

Definition

Verb - To make artificial or less natural: "artificialize" means to cause something to become artificial, contrived, or lacking in natural qualities. It involves altering something in a way that removes its original, genuine, or spontaneous character.

Usage Examples
  • (They made the juice artificial by adding unnatural ingredients.)
  • (It makes the landscape less natural.)
  • (He made the speech contrived or unnatural.)
Advanced Usage
  • "to artificialize one's behavior": to act in a manner that is not genuine or spontaneous.

    • She felt she had to artificialize her laughter at the boss's jokes to fit in at work. (She forced a fake, unnatural laugh.)
  • "to artificialize a process": to introduce artificial elements into a natural or organic process.

    • The farmers artificialized the pollination process by using hand-held devices instead of relying on bees. (They replaced a natural method with a man-made one.)
Variants and Related Words
  • Artificial (adj): made or produced by human beings rather than occurring naturally; not natural.

    • The flowers are artificial, made of silk. (They are not real flowers.)
  • Artificiality (n): the quality of being artificial or not natural.

    • The artificiality of the setting made the event feel staged. (The lack of naturalness was obvious.)
  • Artificialization (n): the act or process of making something artificial.

    • The artificialization of the river's flow has harmed local wildlife. (The process of making it less natural.)
Synonyms
  • Contrive: to create or arrange in a way that seems artificial or forced.
  • Falsify: to alter something in order to deceive or make it less genuine.
  • Syntheticize: to make synthetic or artificial (less common, but similar in meaning).
Phrasal Verbs
  • Artificialize over: to excessively make something artificial.

    • The designer artificialized over the original design, adding too many fake elements. (He made it overly artificial.)
  • Artificialize up: to make something appear more artificial than it is.

    • They artificialized up the simple dish with unnecessary garnishes. (They made it look fake and elaborate.)
Related Idioms
  • To put on airs: to behave in a way that is artificial or pretentious.

    • He artificialized his mannerisms by putting on airs in front of guests. (He acted in a fake, unnatural way.)
  • To gild the lily: to unnecessarily add artificial decoration to something already beautiful or natural.

    • Adding plastic ornaments to the garden only artificializes the natural beautyit's gilding the lily. (It makes the natural look fake.)