automate
Americanverb (used with object)
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to apply the principles of automation to (a mechanical process, industry, office, etc.).
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to operate or control by automation.
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to displace or make obsolete by automation (often followed byout ).
The unskilled jobs are going to be automated out.
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of automate
First recorded in 1950–55; back formation from automation
Explanation
When you design a machine to complete a process once done by a human, you automate the process. Standardized tests once had to be graded by hand, now they're automated, i.e. done by computers. If you automate a factory, workers might lose jobs to robots and machines. A century ago, if you did laundry, you had to turn the clothes in the drum by hand. It was really hard work, so hard that in many families one day was set aside as laundry day and everyone had to help. In 1937, the first electric, or automated, washer was sold, with a motor that turned the drum. Since then, the job has become much easier, though most of us still find it a chore.
Vocabulary lists containing automate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Do it Yourself: Words Beginning with "AUTO"
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Roots: auto
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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.
Appeared in the March 21, 2026, print edition as 'The Trillion Dollar Race to Automate Our Entire Lives'.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 21, 2026
Remember: Automate as much of your saving and investing as possible to make it easier to succeed, including all the deductions you can make from your paycheck.
From MarketWatch • Jan. 6, 2026
Saving is key: Automate the process by having money transferred into savings on paydays.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2023
Is that a thing they can do with Power Automate?
From The Verge • May 10, 2022
"If you cannot abolish it, you outsource it; after you outsource it, you work to automate it. Abolish! Outsource! Automate!"
From Salon • Jun. 30, 2020
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.
