Automaton - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

au·tom·a·ton

Audio Help [aw-tom-uh-ton, -tn] Pronunciation Key

–noun, plural -tons, -ta

Audio Help [-tuh] Pronunciation Key.

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.

[Origin: 1605–15; < L: automatic device < Gk, n. use of neut. of autómatos spontaneous, acting without human agency, equiv. to auto- auto-¹ + -matos, adj. deriv. from base of memonénai to intend, ménos might, force

]

—Related forms

au·tom·a·tous, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Automaton

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

au·tom·a·ton Audio Help (ô-tŏm'ə-tən, -tŏn') Pronunciation Key
n. pl. au·tom·a·tons or au·tom·a·ta (-tə)

A self-operating machine or mechanism, especially a robot.
One that behaves or responds in a mechanical way.

[Latin, self-operating machine, from Greek, from neuter of automatos, self-acting; see automatic.]

au·tom'a·tous adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
automaton

1611, from L. automaton, from Gk. automaton, neut. of automatos "self-acting," from autos "self" + matos "thinking, animated."

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

automaton
noun
1.	someone who acts or responds in a mechanical or apathetic way; "only an automaton wouldn't have noticed"
2.	a mechanism that can move automatically

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
automaton [oːˈtomətən, -tə] noun — plurals auˈtomata [-tə], auˈtomatons

a human-shaped machine that can be operated to move by itself

Arabic:	الإنْسان الآلي
Chinese (Simplified):	自动机器,机器人
Chinese (Traditional):	自動機器,機器人
Czech:	robot
Danish:	robot
Dutch:	robot
Estonian:	robot
Finnish:	robotti
French:	automate
German:	der Roboter
Greek:	ρομπότ
Hungarian:	automata, robotember
Icelandic:	vélmenni
Indonesian:	robot
Italian:	automa

Japanese:	自動人形
Latvian:	automāts
Lithuanian:	automatas, robotas
Norwegian:	robot
Polish:	automat
Portuguese (Brazil):	autômato
Portuguese (Portugal):	autómato
Romanian:	robot
Russian:	робот
Slovak:	robot
Slovenian:	avtomat
Spanish:	autómata
Swedish:	robot, automat
Turkish:	insan şeklinde robot

See also: automatic, automated, automatically, automation

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

automaton robotics, mathematics, algorithm
(Plural automata) A machine, robot, or formal system designed to follow a precise sequence of instructions.
Automata theory, the invention and study of automata, includes the study of the capabilities and limitations of computing processes, the manner in which systems receive input, process it, and produce output, and the relationships between behavioural theories and the operation and use of automated devices.
See also cellular automaton, finite state machine.
(1996-04-23)

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Automaton

Au`to*mat"ic\, Automatical \Au`to*mat"ic*al\, a. [Cf. F. automatique. See Automaton.]

1. Having an inherent power of action or motion.

Nothing can be said to be automatic. --Sir H. Davy.

2. Pertaining to, or produced by, an automaton; of the nature of an automaton; self-acting or self-regulating under fixed conditions; -- esp. applied to machinery or devices in which certain things formerly or usually done by hand are done by the machine or device itself; as, the automatic feed of a lathe; automatic gas lighting; an automatic engine or switch; an automatic mouse.

3. Not voluntary; not depending on the will; mechanical; as, automatic movements or functions.

Unconscious or automatic reasoning. --H. Spenser.

Automatic arts, such economic arts or manufacture as are carried on by self-acting machinery. --Ure.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

automaton

automaton: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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