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
vanishedone commented on the word mechanism
WeirdNet is teaching chemistry today.
July 17, 2009