Artificial lass, from what we hear (4)
I believe the answer is:
made
'artificial' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'lass from what we hear' is the wordplay.
'lass' becomes 'maid' (I've seen this in another clue).
'from what we hear' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'maid' is a homophone of 'MADE'.
(Other definitions for made that I've seen before include "One renovating (painting)" , "Built" , "Forced" , "Constructed" , "Fabricated" .)