Artifact vs Commodity - What's the difference?

As nouns the difference between artifact and commodity

is that artifact is an object made or shaped by human hand while commodity is (obsolete) convenience; usefulness, suitability.

artifact

English

Alternative forms

* artefact

Noun

(en noun)

An object made or shaped by human hand.

(archaeology) An object, such as a tool, weapon or ornament, of archaeological or historical interest, especially such an object found at an archaeological excavation.

The dig produced many Roman artifacts .

Something viewed as a product of human conception or agency rather than an inherent element.

* "The very act of looking at a naked model was an artifact of male supremacy" (Philip Weiss).

A structure or finding in an experiment or investigation that is not a true feature of the object under observation, but is a result of external action, the test arrangement, or an experimental error.

The spot on his lung turned out to be an artifact of the X-ray process.

An object made or shaped by some agent or intelligence, not necessarily of direct human origin.

(computing) A perceptible distortion that appears in a digital image, audio or video file as a result of applying a lossy compression algorithm.

This JPEG image has been so highly compressed that it has too many unsightly compression artifacts , making it unsuitable for the cover of our magazine.

References

* * "artefact" is the preferred spelling in Australia’s Macquarie Dictionary'', with ''artifact listed as a variant. * "artifact" is preferred by the Oxford English Dictionary and most American dictionaries.

commodity

English

Alternative forms

* commoditie (archaic )

Noun

(commodities)

(obsolete) Convenience; usefulness, suitability.

Anything movable (a good) that is bought and sold.

* 1995 , James G. Carrier, Gifts and Commodities: Exchange and Western Capitalism Since 1700 , p.122

If a key part of shopping is the conversion of anonymous commodities into possessions, shopping is a cultural as much as an economic activity.

* 2001 , Rachel Pain, Introducing Social Geographies , p.26

In human geography "commodities'" usually refers to goods and services which are bought and sold. The simplest ' commodities are those produced by the production system just before they are sold.

* 2005 , William Leiss, Botterill, Jacki, Social Communication in Advertising: Consumption in the Mediated Marketplace , p.307

*:* Referring to the work of Bourdieu, Zukin (2004,38) notes that shopping is much more than the purchase of commodities

Something useful or valuable.

* 2008 , Jan. 14th, Somerset County Gazette

And Slade said: "It really makes me sad that football club chairmen and boards seem to have lost that most precious commodity - patience. "Sam's sacking at Newcastle had, I suppose, been on the cards for a while, but it is really ridiculous to fire a manager after such a short time.

(obsolete) Self-interest; personal convenience or advantage.

*, I.40:

Shall we employ the intelligence Heaven hath bestowed upon us for our greatest good, to our ruine? repugning natures desseign and the universal order and vicissitude of things, which implieth that every man should use his instruments and meanes for his owne commoditie ?

*, NYRB, 2001, vol.1, p.321:

they commonly respect their own ends, commodity is the steer of all their action.

(economics) Raw materials, agricultural and other primary products as objects of large-scale trading in specialized exchanges.

The price of crude oil is determined in continuous trading between professional players in World's many commodities exchanges.

(marketing) Undifferentiated goods characterized by a low profit margin, as distinguished from branded products.

Although they were once in the forefront of consumer electronics, the calculators have become a mere commodity .

(Marxism) Anything which has both a use-value and an exchange-value.