automaton
Americannoun
-
a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own motive power; robot.
-
a person or animal that acts in a monotonous, routine manner, without active intelligence.
-
something capable of acting automatically or without an external motive force.
noun
-
a mechanical device operating under its own hidden power; robot
-
a person who acts mechanically or leads a routine monotonous life
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of automaton
1605–15; < Latin: automatic device < Greek, noun use of neuter of autómatos spontaneous, acting without human agency, equivalent to auto- auto- 1 + -matos, adj. derivative from base of memonénai to intend, ménos might, force
Explanation
If you walk like an automaton, you move stiffly, like a robot. An automaton is something constructed to be human-like, or a person who seems to have lost the spark of life. When you see the word, think of Frankenstein's monster, or C3PO from Star Wars. They're not quite human, but they were made to appear so. Used metaphorically, this word suggests the loss of joy and sense of life that makes someone seem like a robot or zombie. After a bad loss, the baseball team might be sitting around like a bunch of automatons. They're mopey and lifeless.
Vocabulary lists containing automaton
Do it Yourself: Words Beginning with "AUTO"
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
Mechanical Engineering
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
The Hot Zone
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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 January’s conference, robots, including Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, a 6-foot-2-inch automaton weighing in at just under 200 pounds with a digital smiley face, were the stars.
From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026
The success of “Maybe Happy Ending” hinges in no small part on the miraculous performance of Darren Criss, who plays an automaton with a secretly sensitive heart.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2025
The application was consuming me, organizing my synapses like an automaton farmer who makes Munsen predictions regarding the historical flow of neurotransmission.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2023
As Tom Standage has argued in his book The Turk, the public's reaction to the automaton in 1820s "foreshadowed" our own reaction to modern digital automatons.
From Salon ● May 30, 2023
She slipped off Hugo so she could get closer to the automaton, but she kept hold of one of Hugo’s wrists.
From "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick
Campione has become known for her unique specialism in dolls, doll houses, automata, birdcages and corkscrews.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2024
There, in the Morris Museum’s collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata, is a music box from around 1877.
From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2024
Perhaps the message was hinting at the aliens’ appearance, morse code, cellular automata or the genetic secrets of E.T.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 3, 2023
There are numerous examples of such religious automata from the late medieval era onwards, including life-size sculptures of Christ and the Virgin Mary that were equipped with articulated limbs and animated by puppetry or clockwork.
From The Verge ● May 4, 2022
If we were not automata at that moment we would continue lying there, exhausted, and without will.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
John Ruskin, a Victorian art critic, raged at how the division of labor broke down traditional communities and turned people into automatons.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 2, 2026
The World Robot Olympiad opened in Singapore on Wednesday with hundreds of international students, some as young as eight, set to compete using automatons to solve real-world problems.
From Barron's ● Nov. 26, 2025
The shrimp are the work of Amedeo Capelli, a self-taught carpenter and maker of hand-operated automatons, or moving devices.
From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2024
Some in the party are anxious about this and accuse Reeves and other shadow ministers of sounding "robotic", like "automatons".
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2024
“Could be automatons, of course, but probably not” “We’ve met, sir,” I told him.
From "The Battle of the Labyrinth" by Rick Riordan
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.
