Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A self-operating machine or mechanism, especially a robot.
- n. One that behaves or responds in a mechanical way.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. That which is self-moving, or has the power of spontaneous movement, but is not conscious.
- n. Specifically A self-acting machine, or one which is actuated in such a manner as to carry on for some time certain movements without the aid of external impulse. In this respect clocks and watches, with a vast number of other machines, may be denominated automata; but the term more specifically denotes an apparatus in which the purposely concealed power is made to imitate the voluntary or mechanical motions of living beings, such as men, horses, birds, fishes, etc.
- n. A living being acting mechanically or as a mere machine, especially without consciousness; a person or an animal whose actions are purely involuntary or mechanical.
- n. A person who acts in a monotonous routine manner, without active intelligence, especially without being fully aware of what he is doing.
Wiktionary
- n. A machine or robot designed to follow a precise sequence of instructions.
- n. A person who acts like a machine or robot, often defined as having a monotonous lifestyle and lacking in emotion.
- n. A formal system, such as finite automaton.
- n. A toy in the form of mechanical figure.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any thing or being regarded as having the power of spontaneous motion or action.
- n. A self-moving machine, or one which has its motive power within itself; -- applied chiefly to machines which appear to imitate spontaneously the motions of living beings, such as men, birds, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who acts or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way
- n. a mechanism that can move automatically
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek αὐτόματον (automaton), neuter of αὐτόματος (automatos, "self moving, self willed"). (Wiktionary)
- Latin, self-operating machine, from Greek, from neuter of automatos, self-acting; see automatic. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The automaton is all that is left of his previous life.”
“The automaton is one of many built to help Lincoln hit the campaign trail and who subsequently became the sheriff of a small town.”
“This year’s homework question was to find an interesting cellular automaton from the rule space of radius 3/2 with two colors.”
“He became a visitor to the "Man with the Rolling Eye," though I believe he used to call my automaton "The Sheik of Baalbec.”
“Thus, according to Descartes, the animal body is an automaton, which is competent to perform all the animal functions in exactly the same way as”
“Eventually, having struck up a friendship with Mr Méliès's cute and adventurous niece Isabelle, Hugo discovers that the old man is none other than the real life great pre-war film-maker Georges Méliès, fallen on hard times and turning his face against his own gift - and that the automaton is a special link to him.”
“We look here only to the necessity of the connection of events in a time-series as it is developed according to the physical law, whether the subject in which this development takes place is called automaton materiale when the mechanical being is moved by matter, or with Leibnitz spirituale when it is impelled by ideas; and if the freedom of our will were no other than the latter”
“Indeed Rivera manages to capture not just the feeling of intense activity in an automobile plant but the kind of automaton-like rhythm we associate with assembly-line production.”
The Wall Street Journal: When the Motor City Was a Symbol of Strength
“An encounter with an eccentric girl and the owner of small toy kiosk in the train station sets in motion a mysterious adventure involving a stolen key, a treasured notebook, and an enigmatic mechanical man or "automaton" – with the real-life figure of cinematic pioneer Georges Méliès providing the crucial link between inventive fantasy and historical fact.”
The Guardian: Martin Scorsese: '3D is liberating. Every shot is rethinking cinema'
“Suddenly, Hillary was no longer the "automaton" with wonkish talk.”
Analysis: Obama Assembled A Bill Bradley Coalition In NH ��� And Lost, Too
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘automaton’.
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
replete, steeped, eminent, indiscriminate, voracious, automaton, prognosticate, technology, abound, matron, tinge, compound and 297 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2053 more...
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Quacksalvers et al. Nostrum
Bring forth the cathartic illumination on malignant,maniacal,medical,menage a trios and more egotists stymie
culpability, piousfraud, capacitous, rhabdomyolysis, scapula, idiosyncrasy, quiescent, malignant, nefarious, sociological, sociopath, pathogen and 204 more...
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Steampunk
Words used quite often in steampunk
ansible, airship, chymical, valve, clockwork, dirigible, thaumaturgy, copper, bronze, difference engine, gear, rivets and 516 more...
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Humanoids
Magical, mechanical, or medical. All man-made.
golem, android, humanoid, Frankenstein, inukshuk, bioroid, replicant, biorobot, automaton, gynoid, droid, cyborg and 12 more...
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Rlist
voracious, indiscriminate, steeped, replete, eminent, prognosticate, abound, automaton, paradoxical, chronoloigical, annal, amateur and 81 more...
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automachine
robot, automaton, drone, unmanned aerial v..., u.a.v., u.c.a.v., skynet, replicator, cyborg, artificial intell..., a.i., h.a.l. and 16 more...
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The insulting ones
ingrate, sycophant, inane, wanton, pompous, vitriolic, ghastly, cesspool, abhor, highfalutin, obsequious, insidious and 25 more...
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be-tween the wings
monoplane, wheatear, synallaxine, fritillary, nightjar, morning-a-jar, evening-jarred, fieldfare, centre, accipiter, motmot, geometrid and 43 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, A
abaculus, abacus, abaft, abarticular, abbreviate, abeyance, abiding, anthocyanin, antemeridian, arcane, adjure, adduce and 418 more...
Tweets
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