mechanical

Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

Related to mechanical: Mechanical weathering, mechanical keyboard

me·chan·i·cal

(mĭ-kăn′ĭ-kəl)

adj.

1. Of or relating to machines or tools: mechanical skill.

2. Operated or produced by a mechanism or machine: a mechanical toy dog.

3. Of, relating to, or governed by mechanics.

4. Performed or performing in an impersonal or machinelike manner; automatic: a droning, mechanical delivery of the speech.

5. Relating to, produced by, or dominated by physical forces: the mechanical aspect of trumpet playing.

6. Philosophy Interpreting and explaining the phenomena of the universe by referring to causally determined material forces; mechanistic.

7. Of or relating to manual labor, its tools, and its skills.

n. Printing

A layout consisting of type proofs, artwork, or both, exactly positioned and prepared for making an offset or other printing plate.

me·chan′i·cal·ly adv.

me·chan′i·cal·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mechanical

(mɪˈkænɪkəl)

adj

1. (Mechanical Engineering) made, performed, or operated by or as if by a machine or machinery: a mechanical process.

2. (Mechanical Engineering) concerned with machines or machinery

3. (General Physics) relating to or controlled or operated by physical forces

4. (General Physics) of or concerned with mechanics

5. (Mechanical Engineering) of or concerned with mechanics

6. (of a gesture, etc) automatic; lacking thought, feeling, etc

7. (Philosophy) philosophy accounting for phenomena by physically determining forces

8. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) (of paper, such as newsprint) made from pulp that has been mechanically ground and contains impurities

9. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) printing another name for camera-ready copy

10. (Professions) archaic another word for mechanic²

meˈchanicalism n

meˈchanically adv

meˈchanicalness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

me•chan•i•cal

(məˈkæn ɪ kəl)

adj.

1. of or pertaining to machinery or tools.

2. operated by machinery.

3. caused by or derived from machinery.

4. using machine parts only.

5. lacking spontaneity; routine.

6. belonging or pertaining to the subject matter of mechanics.

7. pertaining to or caused by physical forces: mechanical erosion.

8. a sheet of stiff paper on which artwork and type proofs have been pasted for making a printing plate; paste-up.

9. Obs. artisan.

[1375–1425]

me•chan′i•cal•ly, adv.

me•chan′i•cal•ness, n.

mechanical

- Predates "machine" in English and has long had certain separate senses, such as "an art, trade, or occupation: concerned with manual work" and "practical as opposed to theoretical."

mechanical

adjective

1. automatic, automated, mechanized, power-driven, motor-driven, machine-driven a small mechanical device that taps out the numbers
automatic manual

2. unthinking, routine, automatic, matter-of-fact, cold, unconscious, instinctive, lacklustre, involuntary, impersonal, habitual, cursory, perfunctory, unfeeling, machine-like, emotionless, spiritless His retort was mechanical.
unthinking thinking, warm, genuine, conscious, voluntary, sincere, wholehearted

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

mechanical

adjective

Performed or performing automatically and impersonally:

automatic, perfunctory.

Translations

آلي، مَعْمول آليّاًتِلقائي، بِصورَةٍ ميكانيكيَّهميكانيكيمِيكَانِيكِيّ

mechanickýstrojní

mekanisk

mechanisch automatisch

μηχανικός

mecánico

mekaaninen

mécanique machinal

mehanički

mechanikaimechanikusgépészgépi

vél-, vélfræîilegurvélrænn

meccanico

機械の

기계적인

mechanisch

mekanisk uinspirert maskin-

mechaniczny

mecânico

механический

strojný

mehaničen

mekanisk

เกี่ยวกับเครื่องจักรกล

mekanikrobot gibimakine ile çalışan/yapılanmakine ile ilgili

thuộc cơ khí

机械的用机械的机械似的

mechanical

[mɪˈkænɪkəl]

A. ADJ

1. [toy, problem, failure, device] → mecánico

2. (fig) (= unthinking) [behaviour, reply] → mecánico, maquinal

B. CPD mechanical engineer N → ingeniero/a m/f mecánico/a
mechanical engineering N → ingeniería f mecánica

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mechanical

[mɪˈkænɪk^əl] adj

[device, instrument] → mécanique

[problem] → mécanique

mechanical work (done by mechanic) → travaux mécaniques
He did all the mechanical work on the cars himself → Il a fait lui-même tous les travaux mécaniques sur les voitures.

[repetition] → mécanique

[behaviour, attitude] → mécaniquemechanical drawing n → dessin m à l'échellemechanical engineering n

(= theory, subject) → mécanique f

(= industry) → construction f mécanique

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mechanical

adj (lit, fig) → mechanisch; toy → technisch; a mechanical device → ein Mechanismus m

mechanical

mechanical digger

n → Bagger m; (also mechanical shovel) → Löffelbagger m

mechanical engineer

n → Maschinenbauer(in) or -bauingenieur(in) m(f)

mechanical engineering

n → Maschinenbau m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mechanical

[mɪˈkænɪk/əl] adj (also) (fig) → meccanico/a

mechanic

(miˈkӕnik) noun

a skilled worker who repairs or maintains machinery.

meˈchanical adjective

1. having to do with machines. mechanical engineering.

2. worked or done by machinery. a mechanical sweeper.

3. done etc without thinking, from force of habit. a mechanical action.

meˈchanically adverb

meˈchanics noun singular

1. the science of the action of forces on objects. He is studying mechanics.

2. the art of building machines. He applied his knowledge of mechanics to designing a new wheelchair.

noun plural

the ways in which something works or is applied. the mechanics of the legal system.

ˈmechanism (ˈme-) noun

a (usually small) piece of machinery. a watch mechanism.

ˈmechanize, ˈmechanise (ˈme-) verb

1. to introduce machinery into (an industry etc). We've mechanized the entire process.

2. to supply (troops) with motor vehicles.

ˌmechaniˈzation, ˌmechaniˈsation noun

mechanical

→ مِيكَانِيكِيّ mechanický mekanisk mechanisch μηχανικός mecánico mekaaninen mécanique mehanički meccanico 機械の 기계적인 mechanisch mekanisk mechaniczny mecânico механический mekanisk เกี่ยวกับเครื่องจักรกล mekanik thuộc cơ khí 机械的

me·chan·i·cal

a. mecánico-a.

References in classic literature ?

It is customary to divide human movements into three classes, voluntary, reflex and mechanical. We may illustrate the distinction by a quotation from William James ("Psychology," i,

View in context

`So, as I see it, the Upper-world man had drifted towards his feeble prettiness, and the Under-world to mere mechanical industry.

View in context

"My friend Drowne;" said Copley, smiling to himself, but alluding to the mechanical and wooden cleverness that so invariably distinguished the images, "you are really a remarkable person!

View in context

His mouth was such a postoffice of a mouth that he had a mechanical appearance of smiling.

View in context

He knew that by this term was understood a mechanical facility for painting or drawing, entirely apart from its subject.

View in context

Moreover, as an oligarchy is said to be a government of men of family, fortune, and education; so, on the contrary, a democracy is a government in the hands of men of no birth, indigent circumstances, and mechanical employments.

View in context

I knew it was an uncurtained aperture in my friend's "machine-shop," and I had little doubt that he had resumed the studies interrupted by his duties as my instructor in mechanical consciousness and the fatherhood of Rhythm.

View in context

In those days conversation was still cultivated as an art; a neat repartee was more highly valued than the crackling of thorns under a pot; and the epigram, not yet a mechanical appliance by which the dull may achieve a semblance of wit, gave sprightliness to the small talk of the urbane.

View in context

He looked me over in my general effect of base mechanical, and asked me if I had given up the law; I had only to answer him I had, and our conference ended.

View in context

She wondered as she regarded some of the grizzled women in the room, mere mechanical contrivances sewing seams and grinding out, with heads bended over their work, tales of imagined or real girlhood happiness, past drunks, the baby at home, and unpaid wages.

View in context

In America, all is easy, all is simple; and as for mechanical difficulties, they are overcome before they arise.

View in context

But the projectile must describe a curve unalterably determined by the laws of mechanical reasoning.

Adj.	1.	mechanical - using (or as if using) mechanisms or tools or devices; "a mechanical process"; "his smile was very mechanical"; "a mechanical toy" nonmechanical - not mechanical
	2.	mechanical - relating to or concerned with machinery or tools; "mechanical arts"; "mechanical design"; "mechanical skills" mechanically skillful
	3.	mechanical - relating to or governed by or in accordance with mechanics; "a belief that the universe is a mechanical contrivance"; "the mechanical pressure of a strong wind"