mechanistic

American  

[mek-uh-nis-tik] / ˌmɛk əˈnɪs tɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the theory of mechanism or to mechanists.

2. of or relating to mechanics.

3. mechanical.

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mechanistic British  

/ ˌmɛkəˈnɪstɪk /

adjective

1. philosophy of or relating to the theory of mechanism

2. maths of or relating to mechanics

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Other Word Forms

• antimechanistic adjective
• antimechanistically adverb
• mechanistically adverb
• nonmechanistic adjective
• semimechanistic adjective
• unmechanistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of mechanistic

First recorded in 1880–85; mechanist + -ic

Example Sentences

"Findings from our clinical trial and our mechanistic study show that is now feasible to bring these critical immune cells into glioblastoma."

From Science Daily • Mar. 20, 2026

Although researchers understand much about how these proteins function, Clemons points out that important mechanistic details remain unclear.

From Science Daily • Feb. 28, 2026

“The non-wildland zoning doesn’t involve any direct sort of mechanistic fire behavior assessment,” David Sapsis, a Cal Fire research manager who oversees the mapping efforts, told The Times in January before the rollout began.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2025

The team developed a mechanistic framework to show how the various components of the complex work together to bring freshly transcribed mRNAs to the ribosome and act as bridges between transcription and translation.

From Science Daily • Nov. 28, 2024

The “action” of a gene is described in mechanistic terms: genes encode chemical messages to build proteins that ultimately enable form and function.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee