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.
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
She's concerned about who ends up holding the keys to cybernetic technology.
From BBC • Sep. 19, 2024
There will be no cybernetic android that lumbers over to your desk and takes over your work duties, no disembodied robot voice that suddenly assumes command over your department.
From Los Angeles Times • May 24, 2023
Think of it as a cybernetic version of prayer, a way to petition the Great Simulator.
From New York Times • Jan. 17, 2023
But why did you say you've got proof that a human being is nothing but a cybernetic gadget?
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.