mechanical

English Online Dictionary. What means mechanical‎? What does mechanical mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English mechanical, mechanicalle, mechanycalle, equivalent to mechanic +‎ -al.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /məˈkænɪkəl/
• (US) IPA^(key): /məˈkænəkəl/

Adjective

mechanical (comparative more mechanical, superlative most mechanical)

1. (now rare) Characteristic of someone who does manual labour for a living; coarse, vulgar.
2. Related to mechanics (the branch of physics that deals with forces acting on mass).

3. Related to mechanics (the design and construction of machines).

4. Done by machine.

5. Using mechanics (the design and construction of machines): being a machine.

6. (figurative) As if performed by a machine: lifeless, mindless, thoughtless, automatic.

7. (of a person) Acting as if one were a machine: lifeless or mindless.
8. (informal) Handy with machines.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

mechanical (plural mechanicals)

1. (advertising) Manually created layout of artwork that is camera ready for photographic reproduction.
2. One who does manual labor, especially one who is similar to Shakespeare's rude mechanicals
3. (science fiction) A robot or mechanical creature.
4. (engineering) A mechanical engineer.
5. (cycling) An instance of equipment failure.
6. (music) A stop on an organ that is operated by a hand or foot control rather than having to be manually set up in advance.
7. (archaic) A machine that performs a job typically accomplished using an animal or manual labor.

Synonyms

• (camera-ready artwork): pasteup

Further reading

• "mechanical" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 201.