machinery

American  

[muh-shee-nuh-ree] / məˈʃi nə ri /

noun

• machineries
  plural

1. an assemblage of machines or mechanical apparatuses.

   the machinery of a factory.

2. the parts of a machine, collectively.

   the machinery of a watch.

3. a group of people or a system by which action is maintained or by which some result is obtained.

   the machinery of government.

   Synonyms:

   setup, structure, organization

4. a group of contrivances for producing stage effects.

5. the group or aggregate of literary machines, especially those of supernatural agency epic machinery in an epic poem.

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machinery British  

/ məˈʃiːnərɪ /

noun

1. machines, machine parts, or machine systems collectively

2. a particular machine system or set of machines

3. a system similar to a machine

   the machinery of government

4. literary devices used for effect in epic poetry

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antimachinery
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• machineries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of machinery

First recorded in 1680–90; machine + -ery

Explanation

Machinery refers to specific machines or machines in general. A farmer has lots of farm machinery, like tractors and plows. Machinery is also the inner workings of something — the machinery of a society is how a society works. You can refer to a group of machines as machinery, such as the machinery in a factory or the machinery in a laboratory. It’s also the inner workings of a particular machine, like the machinery that keeps your computer running. Machinery has to do with how something works or functions. The government, media, business, and family are all part of the machinery of society. The word machinery originally referred to the devices used for creating stage effects in the theater.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

machinery machineries

The process begins when a section of DNA is copied into messenger RNA, a molecule that carries genetic instructions to the cell's protein-producing machinery.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026

Exports of Canadian consumer goods also were up strongly, as were shipments of industrial machinery, equipment and parts thanks partly to a rise in general-purpose machinery sent to the U.S.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

Martín Ramírez, who owns a car shop next to the warehouse, said when he initially arrived for work Tuesday morning, the warehouse was filled with busy workers as usual, cleaning and operating heavy machinery.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026

The EU's trade enforcement chief, Denis Redonnet, said sectors facing "sustained and abnormal" import increases included machinery, textiles, basic metals and chemicals.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Valentin was making motions with his hands as if he was using machinery.

From "Lupita Mañana" by Patricia Beatty

For the first time, the researchers could see how different combinations of modifications are "read" and translated by the protein machineries in our cells.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 6, 2024

Export growth of machineries and hi-tech products were strong.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 7, 2021

Something is broken in our system if the machineries of war endure all strategies and policy changes, if only for the sake of enduring.

From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2018

It should also cause us to ask hard questions about our “technologies” of research ethics—the machineries of evaluation that experiments must pass through.

From Slate ● Dec. 4, 2018

It is all clangings and bangings as tiles are spat out by big machineries onto what is called a conveyor belt.

From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads

Related Words

• apparatus
• appliance
• engine
• equipment
• gear
• instrument
• motor
• system
• tool
• utensil
• vehicle