artefact

artefact — noun

1. an item — for example a tool, pot, or piece of jewellery — shaped by human hands

1.名詞C1
釋義

an item — for example a tool, pot, or piece of jewellery — shaped by human hands long ago and valued today for what it tells us about the people who made and used it.

例句

The Cairo Museum displays thousands of artefacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun.

artefacts from + place/period

Diego found a small clay artefact while digging in his grandmother's garden.

同義詞
  • relic

    stronger sense of religious or sentimental survival from the past

  • antiquity

    formal; usually plural, refers to objects from classical civilisations

  • find

    informal; the object as the result of digging or searching

文法句型

artefact from + period/place

ancient/Roman/Egyptian artefact

用法筆記

Object of choice for archaeology and museum contexts; subject is typically a specific physical thing with provenance, not an abstract creation. British -fact spelling; American English uses 'artifact' (same meaning).

常見錯誤

❌The poem is a beautiful artefact of his youth.
✅The poem is a beautiful piece from his youth.
💡'artefact' refers to physical objects, not written or musical works.
❌I bought an artefact from the gift shop.
✅I bought a souvenir from the gift shop.
💡modern mass-produced items are souvenirs or replicas, not artefacts.

2. anything shaped or produced by people, often discussed as evidence of the societ

2.名詞C1
釋義

anything shaped or produced by people, often discussed as evidence of the society, technology, or way of thinking that gave rise to it.

例句

Sociologists treat shopping malls as artefacts of late twentieth-century consumer culture.

artefact of + abstract noun (cultural analysis)

Linnea argues that emojis are linguistic artefacts of the smartphone era.

同義詞
  • creation

    neutral; emphasises the act of making rather than cultural meaning

  • product

    more general; often commercial or industrial output

  • construct

    formal; stresses that something is shaped by human thinking, not natural

反義詞

文法句型

artefact of + abstract noun

cultural/social artefact

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense extends beyond physical objects to ideas, customs, or institutions, and almost always appears with 'of + noun'. Common in academic writing on culture, sociology, and design.

常見錯誤

❌The chair is an artefact made of wood.
✅The chair is made of wood.
💡calling everyday objects 'artefacts' sounds odd unless you are studying them as cultural evidence.

3. a misleading mark, signal, or result that shows up in a photo, scan, or set of m

3.名詞C1
釋義

a misleading mark, signal, or result that shows up in a photo, scan, or set of measurements only because of how the equipment or method works, not because it reflects anything real.

例句

The bright streak on the X-ray turned out to be an artefact caused by the patient's metal zip.

artefact caused by + cause (scientific)

Dr Wen warned the team that the spike in the data might be a measurement artefact.

measurement artefact (collocation)

同義詞
  • glitch

    informal; sudden short-lived visual or audio fault

  • noise

    general term for unwanted signal, especially statistical or audio

  • distortion

    broader; any change that moves data away from the true value

反義詞

文法句型

artefact in + image/data

compression/measurement artefact

用法筆記

Frequently used in medicine, imaging, audio engineering, and statistics. Subject is usually the unwanted mark or signal itself; often paired with a phrase naming its cause ('caused by motion', 'due to compression'). Distinguish from sense 1 — here the 'artefact' is a defect to be removed, not an object to be preserved.

常見錯誤

❌The result is real, just an artefact.
✅The result is not real
💡it is just an artefact.' — calling something 'an artefact' in this sense means it is NOT a genuine finding.