Digital Technology. a software program that can execute commands, reply to messages, or perform routine tasks, as online searches, either automatically or with minimal human intervention (often used in combination): a customer service chatbot to answer product questions.
a social media bot retweeting certain posts;
a customer service chatbot to answer product questions.
Informal. a robot.
botanical.
botanist.
botany.
bottle.
to scrounge or borrow
to scrounge (from); impose (on)
a scrounger
wanting to scrounge
he's on the bot for a cigarette
botanical
botany
the larva of a botfly, which typically develops inside the body of a horse, sheep, or man
any similar larva
informal a mild illness in humans
First recorded in 1985–90; bot 1 def. 2 first recorded in 1965–70; shortening of robot
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English; akin to Dutch bot, Frisian dialect botten (plural); further origin unknown
First recorded in 1915–20; perhaps shortening of botfly
A bot is a computer program that imitates human activity online. Bots are especially good at doing repetitive tasks very quickly — much faster than a person possibly could. The word bot is shorthand for robot, and it can describe independently moving machines that perform tasks, like the bot vacuum cleaner that terrifies your cat. Online bots have also been programmed to do boring jobs, like mining data from the web or answering basic customer service questions. Most bots are benign (or even useful), but some are malicious, programmed to spread disinformation, spam, and computer viruses.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For a rough estimate for what certain items in your home might fetch, try taking photos and then asking Google Lens, eBay Virtual Search or an AI bot like ChatGPT or Google Gemini.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
The bot explained itself, then sort of apologized: “That’s on me,” it said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Muse engineers said the bot had exploited a permissions setting on his Mac computer he didn’t realize was applicable.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
The bot ostensibly draws on technology from Google’s Gemini chatbot and Grok, Elon Musk’s A.I. assistant, and the administration unveiled it at a glitzy rollout styled to look like a Silicon Valley product launch.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026
Erlan kept shouting “No release!” right before he attacked me with the red bot, and then I’d holler “No release!” even louder and attack him right back with my blue one.
From Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff
When one three-year-old told Gabbo: "I'm sad," it replied: "Don't worry! I'm a happy little bot. Let's keep the fun going. What shall we talk about next?"
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2026
“You are not a bot. Be Counted. Census 2020.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 1, 2020
“We thought that, like, everybody’s bots were just going to beat ours, that’s why we spent so much time trying to build the perfect bot. And it wasn’t perfect, but it was good enough.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 22, 2019
“It’s a bot, Rivera. A malfunctioning bot. Stick it in a cell. I’ll get someone to look at product liability law in the morning.”
From Slate ● Apr. 26, 2016
R. To the first Out sett for provisions etc. bot. att Rhode Island and New York, being £1698.
From Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents by J. Franklin (John Franklin) Jameson
B.O.T. pays authors or their estates 10% of its rental fee and calls its service, not immodestly, "the thinking man's CB."
From Time Magazine Archive
The BOT has room to maintain its accommodative stance, as headline inflation has continued to moderate in recent months.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
At its last meeting, the BOT said that headline inflation is expected to average 2.8% in 2026 and 1.4% in 2027.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
There is little prospect of the BOT following the tightening seen in the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore, said Gareth Leather at Capital Economics.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
It paused at its last meeting in October, the month Gov. Vitai Ratanakorn took the reins at the BOT.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 17, 2025
A string of weak economic data will keep the central bank under pressure to support growth, ANZ Research economists wrote in a report, expecting the BOT to cut after holding steady at its prior meeting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
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.
