automaton

[ aw-tom-uh-ton, -tn ]

noun

, plural au·tom·a·tons, au·tom·a·ta [aw-, tom, -, uh, -t, uh].

1. a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own motive power; robot.
2. a person or animal that acts in a monotonous, routine manner, without active intelligence.
3. something capable of acting automatically or without an external motive force.

automaton

/ ɔːˈtɒməˌtɒn; -tən /

noun

1. a mechanical device operating under its own hidden power; robot
2. a person who acts mechanically or leads a routine monotonous life

Derived Forms

• auˈtomatous, adjective

Other Words From

• au·toma·tous adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of automaton¹

1605–15; < Latin: automatic device < Greek, noun use of neuter of autómatos spontaneous, acting without human agency, equivalent to auto- auto- ¹ + -matos, adj. derivative from base of memonénai to intend, ménos might, force

Word History and Origins

Origin of automaton¹

C17: from Latin, from Greek, from automatos spontaneous, self-moving

Example Sentences

Charles Babbage was partial to Merlin’s Mechanical Museum, with its many automata.

From MIT Technology Review

At first, I saw the game like a machine, not unlike the Mechanical Turk, that impressive 18th-century hoax of a chess-playing automaton, its parts moving and interacting according to complex yet intuitive principles.

From FiveThirtyEight

These included instructions for how to make elaborate dioramas with moving figures, musical automata, mechanical servants, and automata powered by steam, water, air, and mechanics.

From Popular-Science

I would much rather share the world with them than with thoughtless automatons.

From Nautilus

For much of the 20th century, nonhuman creatures were seen as essentially biological automatons that responded in certain instinctual ways to external stimulus, but lacked the rich inner lives and selfhood that humans possess.

From Washington Post

“It was no brute whom Smiley was pursuing with such mastery, no unqualified fanatic after all, no automaton,” le Carré writes.

From The Daily Beast

Despite how he might come across in the history books, he wasn't some bland, rule-following "high-integrity" automaton.

From The Daily Beast

But it did suggest that Rubio was more than a Reaganite automaton.

From The Daily Beast

On one hand she's a pitch-perfect automaton; indeed, her longest speaking part is half a sentence in Russian.

From The Daily Beast

Crawley came walking like an automaton from whose joints the oil had suddenly dried.

From Project Gutenberg

The scrivener did look up accordingly, with the action of an automaton which suddenly obeys the impulse of a pressed spring.

From Project Gutenberg

Like an automaton the man stepped forward, and after him paced the white horse.

From Project Gutenberg

I have again the old feeling of having surrendered my imagination and of moving like an automaton.

From Project Gutenberg

The same gentleman exhibited an automaton in England, of the figure of a man, as large as life.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• apparatus
• appliance
• automobile
• engine
• gadget
• instrument
• motor
• tool
• vehicle