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
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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automatesimple
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automatessimple
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have automatedperfect
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has automatedperfect
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am automatingprogressive
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are automatingprogressive
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is automatingprogressive
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have been automatingperfect progressive
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has been automatingperfect progressive
Past
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automatedsimple
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had automatedperfect
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was automatingprogressive
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were automatingprogressive
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had been automatingperfect progressive
Future
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.
Chinese AI companies have been raising billions of dollars to compete with global players such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google as businesses race to leverage generative AI to automate tasks and boost productivity.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 9, 2026
Nunn says the key to building up savings is to automate putting money aside.
From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026
After thousands of employees were reassigned to Meta's AI division, some, speaking anonymously to US media, have complained of "mind-numbing" tasks designed to train machines, or even automate away their own jobs.
From Barron's • Jul. 1, 2026
Army selected Lattice as the fire-control platform for the Integrated Battle Command System Maneuver program, a counterdrone command-and-control layer meant to fuse sensor data, automate fire control and compress the detection-to-defeat timeline.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 29, 2026
Others automate the process using automatic communications scripts.
From The Online World by De Presno, Odd
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.
