factitious, a.
(fækˈtɪʃəs)
[f. L. factīci-us made by art (f. facĕre to make) + -ous.]
† 1. Made by or resulting from art; artificial.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. i. 51 It becomes the chiefest ground for artificiall and factitious gemmes. 1685 Boyle Salubr. Air 39 Beer, Ale, or other factitious drinks. 1769 De Foe's Tour Gt. Brit. I. 293 The Stones of which it [Stone-henge] was composed, are not factitious. 1774 J. Bryant Mythol. I. 236 The one was a natural eminence..The other was a factitious mound. 1801 J. Jones tr. Bygge's Trav. Fr. Rep. xv. 382 His factitious black lead pencils..are not prepared from the native ore, but a composition..of iron and sulphur. |
† 2. Of soil, etc.: Produced by special causes, not forming part of the original crust of the earth. Obs.
| 1684 T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 137 Those [islands] I call factitious, that are not of the same date and antiquity with the sea, but have been made..by accidental causes. 1739 C. Labelye Short Acc. Piers Westm. Bridge 7 This Bed of Sand, Mud and Dirt, is a factitious Bed. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 80 Factitious soil, formed of decayed or rotten leaves. 1808 Wilford Sacr. Isles in Asiat. Res. VIII. 298 The factitious soil of the Gangetic provinces..has been brought down by the alluvions of rivers. |
3. Got up, made up for a particular occasion or purpose; arising from custom, habit, or design; not natural or spontaneous; artificial, conventional.
| 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. Pref., The Atheists Artificiall and Factitious Justice, is Nothing but Will and Words. 1748 Hartley Observ. Man i. iv. 420 The factitious..Nature of these Pleasures. 1776 Gibbon Decl. & F. I. ix. 174 The use of gold and silver is in a great measure factitious. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 51 Factitious wants created by luxury. 1810 Bentham Packing (1821) 67 The mass of factitious expence and delay ..with which the approaches to justice are clogged. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. i. xi. §4 Its acquisition was invested with a factitious value. 1865 Tylor Early Hist. Man. ii. 23 Factitious grammatical signs. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) IV. xviii. 106 The momentary and factitious joy which had greeted the day of William's crowning died utterly away. |
Hence facˈtitiously adv., in a factitious manner. facˈtitiousness, the quality of being factitious.
| 1795 Encycl. Brit. XIV. 478 There is no such Fear, as is factitiously pretended, of Popery and arbitrary Power. 1836–7 Sir W. Hamilton Metaph. xxxiv. (1859) II. 279 Our factitiously complex..notions, are all merely so many products of Comparison. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 59 Festivity, kept alive factitiously. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. i. §3. 28 Factitiousness, artificial, technical, made. 1883 T. Hardy in Longm. Mag. July 257 As the day passes on..and he is still unhired, there does appear a factitiousness in the smile. |
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▸ Med. Of a disorder, symptom, or sign: feigned or self-induced by a patient. Later (Psychiatry): (designating any of a group of disorders) feigned or self-induced solely in order to obtain medical attention.
| 1882 Nature 21 Dec. 192/1 Factitious purulent ophthalmia produced by the liquorice liana, or jequirity. 1886 C. H. Fagge Princ. & Pract. Med. II. 758 We must never forget the possibility of the affection before us being factitious. 1968 Arch. Gen. Psychiatry 18 569/1 Factitious illness is the appropriate diagnosis in patients who consciously distort their medical history and produce misleading physical findings and laboratory results through self-inflicted lesions. 1977 New Eng. Jrnl. Med. 6 Jan. 23 (title) Urinary temperature: a clue to early diagnosis of factitious fever. 1980 Diagnostic & Statist. Man. Mental Disorders (ed. 3) 285 In contrast [to malingering], in a Factitious Disorder there is no apparent goal other than to assume the patient role. 1994 Jrnl. Internal Med. 236 685 A literature survey suggests that factitious cardiovascular symptoms have become more frequent during recent decades. 2000 Times 3 Feb. 15/2 There is, however, another group of psychiatric troubles with symptoms that can be confused with those of factitious disorders. |