android
noun
an automaton in the form of a human being.
android
American
[an-droid]
/ ˈæn drɔɪd /
noun
-
androids
plural
Android
1
British
/ ˈændrɔɪd /
noun
-
a software package for smartphones, including many application programs
-
a smartphone that uses this software
android
2
British
/ ˈændrɔɪd /
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of android
From the New Latin word androīdēs, dating back to 1720–30. See andr-, -oid
Compare meaning
How does android compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
An android is a robot that looks and acts like a human being. Sometimes they have fake skin that looks so real you can’t tell the difference. For all you know, the person sitting next to you is an android. Life’s biggest question: What’s the difference between cyborgs and androids? Cyborgs are humans with robot parts added to them, and androids start as robots and then get designed to look like humans. The Latin root androides literally means “resembling a man,” and androids really know how to blend in. Androids mostly appear in science fiction novels and films, but who knows, maybe you’re friends with an android and you don’t even know it. Yet.
Vocabulary lists containing android
Science Fiction Lingo
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A Very Large Expanse of Sea
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
At the end of the 2014 sci-fi movie “Ex Machina,” the AI-powered android named Ava breaks out of the secure facility.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026
Sony is halting sales of its robotic puppy "aibo" in Japan, the company said, eight years after the latest model of its interactive android pet became an instant hit.
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
One of the festival’s big themes seems to be connection: that we’re all stuck on this rock together and, ultimately, the difference between human and android, man and woman, is moot.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
A new lawsuit alleges Google’s chatbot sent a Florida man on missions to find an android body it could inhabit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
But he could not work up much concern for Roy Baty; he caught, from Dave’s jottings, a repellent quality hanging about this particular android.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Released in February, the app has roughly 110,000 downloads on Android, with most of the users in the United States and Canada, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
“They have the Android and the iPhone, and that’s kind of how you’re going to use AI for now,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 21, 2026
The feature allowed users to choose their default search engine during the initial set-up of a new Android device.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
It has been downloaded more than a billion times across iOS and Android devices, with millions still logging on each day.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
“The Android Look was not a good one for me.”
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
The iPhone might be with us until the end of time, or until we ourselves become androids.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026
You know the species because androids have been a mainstay of science fiction since before Isaac Asimov coined the “three laws of robotics” for a novelette published in 1942.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2025
The filmmaker, whose film stars Will Smith as a detective sceptical of seemingly obedient androids, accused Musk of copying his work in a post on X.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2024
Decades after Philip K. Dick asked if androids dreamed of electric sheep, we have an answer.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2024
“You have to be a long way off, the way the androids are. They have better perspective.”
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
