cybernetic
Americanadjective
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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.
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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
Etymology
Origin of cybernetic
First recorded in 1945–50; back formation from cybernetics ( def. )
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.
Grimes’ filtered coos and hushed vocals approximate cybernetic birdsong.
From Salon • Nov. 7, 2025
She's concerned about who ends up holding the keys to cybernetic technology.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2024
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
And to learn from them, so that today’s dystopian cybernetic science fiction does not become science fact.
From Slate • Mar. 25, 2023
Your complex human being is nothing but a fairly elaborate cybernetic machine operating wholly on feedback principles.
From Human Error by Jones, Raymond F.
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.
