From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Artifact \Ar"ti*fact\, n. [L. ars, artis, art + facere, factum,
to make.]
1. (Arch[ae]ol.) A product of human workmanship; -- applied
esp. to the simpler products of aboriginal art as
distinguished from natural objects.
Syn: artefact.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
2. Any product of human workmanship; -- applied both to
objects made for practical purposes as well as works of
art. It is contrasted to {natural object}, i.e. anything
produced by natural forces without the intervention of
man.
Syn: artefact.
[PJC]
3. (Biol.) A structure or appearance in protoplasm due to
death, method of preparation of specimens, or the use of
reagents, and not present during life.
Syn: artefact.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
4. (Technology) an object, oservation, phenomenon, or result
arising from hidden or unexpected causes extraneous to the
subject of a study, and therefore spurious and having
potential to lead one to an erroneous conclusion, or to
invalidate the study. In experimental science, artifacts
may arise due to inadvertant contamination of equipment,
faulty experimental design or faulty analysis, or
unexpected effects of agencies not known to affect the
system under study.
Syn: artefact.
[PJC]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
artifact
n 1: a man-made object taken as a whole [syn: {artifact},
{artefact}] [ant: {natural object}]
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