machinelike

American  

[muh-sheen-lahyk] / məˈʃinˌlaɪk /

adjective

1. like a machine, as in regular movement or uniform pattern of operation.

   to conduct business with machinelike efficiency.

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Etymology

Origin of machinelike

First recorded in 1690–1700; machine + -like

Example Sentences

That Norwegian, a 25-year-old Viking look-alike named Erling Haaland, is currently on a historic tear through English soccer—even by his own machinelike standards.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

He would help symbolize the almost machinelike efficiency of the Yankees in the mid-20th century, when only twice between Ford’s rookie year and 1964 did they fail to make the postseason.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 9, 2020

Posters featuring orange safety cones and music full of machinelike repetition punctured by whistles and screams contradicted audience assumptions that small Southern towns produced only county and folk sounds and handmade things.

From Slate • Jul. 8, 2020

So yes, he’s still expressing the complexity of his humanity — “Watch my soul speak,” he instructs during the staccato chest-puffs of “HUMBLE.” — but, this time, with machinelike mettle.

From Washington Post • Apr. 17, 2017

She made a strange whirring sound and watched wide-eyed as her arm shot out, machinelike, toward Jennifer’s.

From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray