machine

American  

[muh-sheen] / məˈʃin /

noun

• machines
  plural

1. an apparatus consisting of interrelated parts with separate functions, used in the performance of some kind of work.

   a sewing machine.

2. a mechanical apparatus or contrivance; mechanism.

3. Mechanics.

   1. a device that transmits or modifies force or motion.

   2. Also called simple machine. any of six or more elementary mechanisms, as the lever, wheel and axle, pulley, screw, wedge, and inclined plane.

   3. Also called complex machine. a combination of simple machines.

4. Older Use.

   1. an automobile or airplane.

   2. a typewriter.

5. a bicycle or motorcycle.

6. a vending machine.

   a cigarette machine.

7. any complex agency or operating system.

   the machine of government.

8. an organized group of persons that conducts or controls the activities of a political party or organization.

   He heads the Democratic machine in our city.

9. a person or thing that acts in a mechanical or automatic manner.

   Routine work had turned her into a machine.

10. any of various contrivances, especially those formerly used in the theater, for producing stage effects.

    The ancient Greeks used a theatrical machine to lower actors onto the stage.

11. some agency, personage, incident or other feature introduced for effect into a literary composition.

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verb (used with object)

• machines,
  present (3rd person singular)
• machined,
  past participle,  past
• machining
  present participle

1. to make, prepare, or finish with a machine or with machine tools.

machine British  

/ məˈʃiːn /

noun

1. an assembly of interconnected components arranged to transmit or modify force in order to perform useful work

2. Also called: simple machine. a device for altering the magnitude or direction of a force, esp a lever, screw, wedge, or pulley

3. a mechanically operated device or means of transport, such as a car, aircraft, etc

4. any mechanical or electrical device that automatically performs tasks or assists in performing tasks

5. 1. (modifier) denoting a firearm that is fully automatic as distinguished from semiautomatic

   2. ( in combination )

      machine pistol

      machine gun

6. any intricate structure or agency

   the war machine

7. a mechanically efficient, rigid, or obedient person

8. an organized body of people that controls activities, policies, etc

9. (esp in the classical theatre) a device such as a pulley to provide spectacular entrances and exits for supernatural characters

10. an event, etc, introduced into a literary work for special effect

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verb

1. (tr) to shape, cut, or remove (excess material) from (a workpiece) using a machine tool

2. to use a machine to carry out a process on (something)

machine Scientific  

/ mə-shēn′ /

1. A device that applies force, changes the direction of a force, or changes the strength of a force, in order to perform a task, generally involving work done on a load. Machines are often designed to yield a high mechanical advantage to reduce the effort needed to do that work.

2. ◆ A simple machine is a wheel, a lever, or an inclined plane. All other machines can be built using combinations of these simple machines; for example, a drill uses a combination of gears (wheels) to drive helical inclined planes (the drill-bit) to split a material and carve a hole in it.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• machinability
  noun
• antimachine
  adjective
• machinable
  adjective
• machine-like
  adjective
• machineless
  adjective
• unmachined
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• machines
  plural

Participles

• machining
  present
• machined
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• machine
  simple
• machines
  simple
• have machined
  perfect
• has machined
  perfect
• am machining
  progressive
• are machining
  progressive
• is machining
  progressive
• have been machining
  perfect progressive
• has been machining
  perfect progressive

Past

• machined
  simple
• had machined
  perfect
• was machining
  progressive
• were machining
  progressive
• had been machining
  perfect progressive

Future

• will machine
  simple
• will have machined
  perfect
• will be machining
  progressive
• will have been machining
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of machine

First recorded in 1540–50; from French, from Latin māchina, from Doric Greek māchanā́ “pulley,” akin to mâchos “contrivance”; cf. mechanic

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Explanation

At its simplest, a machine is an invention that does a job better and faster and more powerfully than a human being. Despite being man-made we’ve come to think of the word machine as the very opposite of human. The Machine Age we live in is considered impersonal and overwhelming, and anything machine-like is often considered soulless or even dangerous. (Witness the countless fantasies of robots taking over the world.) Human beings working together, like "the cogs of a machine," can become more powerful than a single person. That's why sports teams or political organizations are often described as "well-oiled machines."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

machine machines machined machining

"It is trading the gap between what companies earn today and what they still have to spend to keep the AI machine humming tomorrow."

From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026

Micron has become a profit machine, as demand for memory chips has soared.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 18, 2026

Given what we’ve seen from the films he has worked on in the past, the machine is likely to be clunky — but that won’t matter to either party if it works.

From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2026

The paper reports the 68-year-old was accosted at a cash machine, but fought back against the thief, who it says "scuttled away empty handed".

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

Its balloon tires were so thick, you couldn’t span them with your hand, and the machine steered with another wheel.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Like birds, these machines may face mechanical restrictions on how much their wings can fold during each wingbeat.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

Around the same time, the ticket machines were proving similarly unreliable about accepting credit cards.

From Salon ● Oct. 17, 2026

Doug Field will oversee product, engineering, operations and more at the company that aims to put “human-like” machines in factories in the coming years, the Journal’s Patrick George writes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Where the movies are big, loud, overpopulated machines, the TV series are full of interesting ideas, weird notions and good comedy and give their characters room to breathe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026

As I stepped into the room, I witnessed something that I’d never seen before: a couple of dozen Colored women sitting at desks, typing on Monroe or Friden desktop calculating machines.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

The monitor had been designed with screws in the back that had 25 concentric circles machined into their flat heads to make them sparkle as light passed over them.

From Barron's ● Apr. 22, 2026

Still, in our endless chase of machined refinement, I think we’re missing the value of human irregularity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 26, 2026

The carbon fibre hull had titanium domes fitted on each end, but he said the metal had been machined incorrectly.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2025

“The foundation of the sound capture is still better than anything else that you would find today. The products that were put into use and the way that it was machined … it’s unmatched.”

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2025

Cooksey’s new tank compiled everything the lab had learned about how to build a cyclotron into a rugged, gleaming, machined tank with glass insulators and arrangements for air and water cooling.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

This matters for Proxima which uses a very expensive type of steel in its magnets, which needs machining to a high level accuracy.

From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026

According to a biography of Woods published in 1887, he attended school until about the age of 10, learning basic reading, writing and arithmetic, before leaving to apprentice in blacksmithing and machining.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

Boeing traced the problem to a machining error.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

Patterson argued that the court should allow ATF to regulate only firearms that have been completed with “critical machining operations.”

From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2024

“So I guess you’re an expert at welding and machining now,” he said.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

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