mechanical
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
mechanical
adj 1: using (or as if using) mechanisms or tools or devices; "a
mechanical process"; "his smile was very mechanical"; "a
mechanical toy" [ant: {nonmechanical}]
2: relating to or concerned with machinery or tools; "mechanical
arts"; "mechanical design"; "mechanical skills" [syn:
{mechanical}, {mechanically skillful}]
3: 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"
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Mechanical \Me*chan"ic*al\, a. [From {Mechanic}, a.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Pertaining to, governed by, or in accordance with,
mechanics, or the laws of motion; pertaining to the
quantitative relations of force and matter on a
macroscopic scale, as distinguished from {mental},
{vital}, {chemical}, {electrical}, {electronic}, {atomic}
etc.; as, mechanical principles; a mechanical theory;
especially, using only the interactions of solid parts
against each other; as mechanical brakes, in contrast to
{hydraulic} brakes.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
2. Of or pertaining to a machine or to machinery or tools;
made or formed by a machine or with tools; as, mechanical
precision; mechanical products.
[1913 Webster]
We have also divers mechanical arts. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
3. Done as if by a machine; uninfluenced by will or emotion;
proceeding automatically, or by habit, without special
intention or reflection; as, mechanical singing;
mechanical verses; mechanical service.
[1913 Webster]
4. Made and operated by interaction of forces without a
directing intelligence; as, a mechanical universe.
[1913 Webster]
5. Obtained by trial, by measurements, etc.; approximate;
empirical. See the 2d Note under {Geometric}.
[1913 Webster]
{Mechanical effect}, effective power; useful work exerted, as
by a machine, in a definite time.
{Mechanical engineering}. See the Note under {Engineering}.
{Mechanical maneuvers} (Mil.), the application of mechanical
appliances to the mounting, dismounting, and moving of
artillery. --Farrow.
{Mechanical philosophy}, the principles of mechanics applied
to the investigation of physical phenomena.
{Mechanical powers}, certain simple instruments, such as the
lever and its modifications (the wheel and axle and the
pulley), the inclined plane with its modifications (the
screw and the wedge), which convert a small force acting
through a great space into a great force acting through a
small space, or vice versa, and are used separately or in
combination.
{Mechanical solution} (Math.), a solution of a problem by any
art or contrivance not strictly geometrical, as by means
of the ruler and compasses, or other instruments.
[1913 Webster]
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
89 Moby Thesaurus words for "mechanical":
accordant, aeromechanical, alike, automated, automatic, balanced,
biomechanical, blind, cold, colorless, compulsive, conditioned,
consistent, consonant, constant, continuous, correspondent, dead,
distant, equable, equal, even, flat, forced, habitual, homogeneous,
immutable, impersonal, impulsive, inanimate, insensible,
instinctive, invariable, involuntary, level, lifeless, locomotive,
locomotor, machinal, machine-made, machinelike, matter-of-fact,
measured, mechanistic, mechanized, methodic, monolithic,
of a piece, ordered, orderly, perfunctory, persistent,
power-driven, powered, reflex, reflexive, regular, ritualistic,
robotlike, routine, smooth, spiritless, stable, steadfast, steady,
systematic, unanimated, unartistic, unbroken, unchangeable,
unchanged, unchanging, unconscious, undeviating, undifferentiated,
undiversified, unemotional, unfeeling, uniform, uninspired,
unintentional, unruffled, unthinking, unvaried, unvarying,
unwilled, unwilling, unwitting, zoomechanical
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