Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A machine or mechanical appliance.
- noun The arrangement of connected parts in a machine.
- noun A system of parts that operate or interact like those of a machine.
- noun An instrument or a process, physical or mental, by which something is done or comes into being.
- noun A habitual manner of acting to achieve an end.
- noun Psychology A usually unconscious mental and emotional pattern that shapes behavior in a given situation or environment.
- noun The sequence of steps in a chemical reaction.
- noun Philosophy The doctrine that all natural phenomena are explicable by material causes and mechanical principles.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The structure of a machine, engine, or other contrivance for controlling or utilizing natural forces; the arrangement and relation of parts, or the parts collectively, in any machine, tool, or other contrivance; means of mechanical action; machinery; hence, the structure of anything that is conceived to resemble a machine.
- noun A mechanical contrivance or agency of any kind; in general, the apparatus, means, or mode by which particular effects are produced or purposes accomplished: as, the mechanism of a musical instrument (the apparatus by means of which the performer acts upon it); the mechanism of a play or of a poem; the mechanism of government.
- noun Action according to the laws of mechanics; mechanical action.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The arrangement or relation of the parts of a machine; the parts of a machine, taken collectively; the arrangement or relation of the parts of anything as adapted to produce an effect
- noun The series of causal relations that operate to produce an effect in any system.
- noun Mechanical operation or action.
- noun (Kinematics) An ideal machine; a combination of movable bodies constituting a machine, but considered only with regard to relative movements.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Within a
machine ormachinery ; anymechanical means for theconversion orcontrol ofmotion , or thetransmission or control ofpower - noun Any
combination ofcams ,gears ,links ,belts ,chains andlogical mechanical elements - noun A group of objects or parts that interact together. (as in Political machine)
- noun A mental, physical, or chemical
process . - noun philosophy A theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (philosophy) the philosophical theory that all phenomena can be explained in terms of physical or biological causes
- noun device consisting of a piece of machinery; has moving parts that perform some function
- noun a natural object resembling a machine in structure or function
- noun the atomic process that occurs during a chemical reaction
- noun the technical aspects of doing something
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Just ONE gesture … the mechanism is already in place.
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Eric: What other mechanism is there to defer taxes?
Defending Social Security, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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This mechanism is a common one to RTD, so it's not surprising that it was used in CoE.
Torchwood: CoE one more time rabid1st 2009
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This mechanism is also the only practical implementation of a “just war” policy that we are ever likely to see.
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It only precludes learning about the mechanism if in fact learning about the mechanism is a false category (which may or may not be true).
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This mechanism is also the only practical implementation of a “just war” policy that we are ever likely to see.
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Obviously a lot of times making decision to air-lift a person to the hospital like this is based on what we call the mechanism of injury.
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In his search for a more elegant description of the solar system, Nicolas Copernicus was motivated by his desire to comprehend what he called The mechanism of the universe, wrought for us by a supremely good and orderly Creator, the system the best and most orderly artist of all framed for our sake.
Privileged Planet Denyse O 2005
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In his search for a more elegant description of the solar system, Nicolas Copernicus was motivated by his desire to comprehend what he called The mechanism of the universe, wrought for us by a supremely good and orderly Creator, the system the best and most orderly artist of all framed for our sake.
June 8: Rot! Still no hellfire. But keep reading. It is Denyse O 2005
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Taking that a step further, ISE's Miller says, some mobile operating systems have a non-executable heap, which he describes as a mechanism to hinder or block the execution of malicious code.
Webwereld 2009
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It was a triumph of mechanism design: the science of designing rules that align self-interest with the collective good.
How Reverse Game Theory Could Solve The Housing Shortage HennyGe Wichers 2026
vanishedone commented on the word mechanism
WeirdNet is teaching chemistry today.
July 17, 2009