cybernetic

American  

[sahy-ber-net-ik] / ˌsaɪ bərˈnɛt ɪk /

Rarely cybernetical

adjective

1. of or relating to cybernetics, the study of automatic control and communication functions in both living organisms and mechanical and electronic systems.

   The self-regulating engineering devices of the mid-20th century inspired the cybernetic image of the brain as a computer.

2. relating to or being a mechanical or electronic device implanted into or attached to a living organism to enhance or aid physiological functioning.

   In the sci-fi movie, the hero’s nemesis acquires a six-legged spider-like cybernetic apparatus to replace his lost lower body.

---

Other Word Forms

• cybernetically adverb

Etymology

Origin of cybernetic

First recorded in 1945–50; back formation from cybernetics ( def. )

Example Sentences

He adds it is likely we'll see more cybernetic enhancements of the kind he has already trialled himself, so that "your brain and body can be in different places".

From BBC • Jan. 2, 2026

They could then be fertilized before journey’s end, and the babies raised “under the tutelage of cybernetic nurses who would teach them their inheritance and their destiny when they were capable of understanding it.”

From Slate • Dec. 9, 2025

Grimes’ filtered coos and hushed vocals approximate cybernetic birdsong.

From Salon • Nov. 7, 2025

They recruited an eccentric British management consultant named Stafford Beer who applied pioneering cybernetic theory — essentially, the study of dynamic systems, and how different inputs create feedback into those systems — to business operations.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 21, 2023

Patent law is supposed to give us a self-regulating innovation policy in which the right to exclude others from novel and useful inventions creates a cybernetic and responsive innovation marketplace.

From The Public Domain Enclosing the Commons of the Mind by Boyle, James