mechanism
an assembly of moving parts performing a complete functional motion, often being part of a large machine; linkage.
the agency or means by which an effect is produced or a purpose is accomplished.
machinery or mechanical appliances in general.
the structure or arrangement of parts of a machine or similar device, or of anything analogous.
the mechanical part of something; any mechanical device: the mechanism of a clock.
routine methods or procedures; mechanics: the mechanism of government.
mechanical execution, as in painting or music; technique.
the theory that everything in the universe is produced by matter in motion; materialism.: Compare dynamism (def. 1), vitalism (def. 1).
Philosophy.
the view that all natural processes are explicable in terms of classical mechanics.
the view that all biological processes may be described in physicochemical terms.
Psychoanalysis. the habitual operation and interaction of psychological forces within an individual that assist in interpreting or dealing with the physical or psychological environment.
Origin of mechanism
1Other words from mechanism
- mech·a·nis·mic, adjective
- an·ti·mech·an·ism, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use mechanism in a sentence
Other candidates, like the one from the American firm Novavax, use a protein-based mechanism.
Will a Covid-19 Vaccine Change the Future of Medical Research? (Ep. 430) | Stephen J. Dubner | August 27, 2020 | FreakonomicsThat defense mechanism may have served its purpose for many years, but he may have realized that it no longer serves him, or the world.
Are You Yoda or Darth Vader? - Issue 89: The Dark Side | Brian Gallagher | August 26, 2020 | NautilusIt took years for Moderna’s scientists to create a mechanism to deliver this genetic material effectively into human cells.
One of the things that we really have to do is to look at production mechanisms or production methods that actually cost much less energy.
A critical set of these mechanisms involve genetic exchange.
How Life Could Continue to Evolve - Issue 88: Love & Sex | Caleb Scharf | August 12, 2020 | Nautilus
It is entirely possible for some of these mechanisms to be functioning while others have ceased.
What It’s Like to Wake Up Dead | Dr. Anand Veeravagu, MD, Tej Azad | November 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe book rejects capitalism, market mechanisms, and even, seemingly, profit motives and corporate governance.
Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’ Will Change Nothing | Michael Signer | November 17, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe White House argues that most of the mechanisms already are in place to ensure these goals are carried out.
Obama and Xi Jinping Say They’ll Work Together to Save Environment | Ben Leung | November 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn this way, certain cognitive mechanisms can act like a hammer too eager for nails.
Why Are Millennials Unfriending Organized Religion? | Vlad Chituc | November 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTSimply tap on your own screen, and haptic feedback mechanisms in the watch will transfer the gesture to the wrist of your friend.
Bigger, Bolder, and Better Than Ever: Steve Jobs Would Be Proud of Today's Apple | Kyle Chayka | September 9, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe muscular mechanisms used by the singer and speaker are of the skeletal variety.
Voice Production in Singing and Speaking | Wesley MillsSuch delicate mechanisms can also be easily injured or hopelessly ruined; and, as a matter of fact, this is being done daily.
Voice Production in Singing and Speaking | Wesley MillsThe lower we descend in the animal scale the more simple are the mechanisms by which results are attained.
Voice Production in Singing and Speaking | Wesley MillsIn each case the ideas are converted into performance, the results attained, by the exercise of neuro-muscular mechanisms.
Voice Production in Singing and Speaking | Wesley MillsThe Machine is very expensive to maintain in operation, and so is every one of the little mechanisms of which it is composed.
Invention | Bradley A. Fiske
British Dictionary definitions for mechanism
/ (ˈmɛkəˌnɪzəm) /
a system or structure of moving parts that performs some function, esp in a machine
something resembling a machine in the arrangement and working of its parts: the mechanism of the ear
any form of mechanical device or any part of such a device
a process or technique, esp of execution: the mechanism of novel writing
philosophy
the doctrine that human action can be explained in purely physical terms, whether mechanical or biological
the explanation of phenomena in causal rather than teleological or essentialist terms
the view that the task of science is to seek such explanations
psychoanal
the ways in which psychological forces interact and operate
a structure having an influence on the behaviour of a person, such as a defence mechanism
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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