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:
Another element of the plot, which grows in prominence as the film proceeds, concerns the banding together of the handful of android children in the neighborhood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 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
When audiences last saw Vision, the reconstructed android had just regained his memories and, presumably, his sentience, before flying off into the unknown.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 2, 2026
The android knows how to navigate the planet’s threats—exploding spike plants, acid-spitting eels, literal razor grass—so Dek reluctantly teams up with her to find his quarry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025
Standing there he realized, all at once, that he had acquired an overt, incontestable fear directed toward the principal android.
From "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
A few weeks ago, I biked to meet a source for coffee, since my Android phone’s AccuWeather widget had seemingly projected a low, low chance of precipitation in the area.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
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
Travellers attempting to buy tickets using the old app were prompted to visit the app store on their Apple or Android device to download the new version.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
The Swiss competition authority announced Tuesday it had opened a preliminary investigation into Google's removal of the "choice screen" feature on Android devices in Switzerland.
From Barron's ● Jul. 14, 2026
“The Android Look was not a good one for me.”
From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram
Do androids dream of electric balls and strikes—plus some other questions on baseball’s Opening Day.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 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
Andy joins the longer history of a franchise wherein the androids are often at odds with Isaac Asimov’s classic Three Laws of Robotics.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2024
“Don’t the androids keep you company? I heard a commercial on—”
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.
