mechanical

American  

[muh-kan-i-kuhl] / məˈkæn ɪ kəl /

adjective

1. having to do with machinery.

   a mechanical failure.

2. being a machine; operated by machinery.

   a mechanical toy.

3. caused by or derived from machinery.

   mechanical propulsion.

4. using machine parts only.

5. brought about by friction, abrasion, etc..

   a mechanical bond between stones; mechanical erosion.

6. pertaining to the design, use, understanding, etc., of tools and machinery.

   the mechanical trades; mechanical ability.

7. acting or performed without spontaneity, spirit, individuality, etc..

   a mechanical performance.

8. habitual; routine; automatic.

   Practice that step until it becomes mechanical.

9. belonging or pertaining to the subject matter of mechanics. mechanics.

10. pertaining to, or controlled or effected by, physical forces.

11. (of a philosopher or philosophical theory) explaining phenomena as due to mechanical action or the material forces of the universe.

12. subordinating the spiritual to the material; materialistic.

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noun

1. a mechanical object, part, device, etc.

2. Printing. a sheet of stiff paper on which has been pasted artwork and type proofs for making a printing plate; paste-up.

3. Obsolete. a skilled manual laborer, as a carpenter or other artisan.

mechanical British  

/ mɪˈkænɪkəl /

adjective

1. made, performed, or operated by or as if by a machine or machinery

   a mechanical process

2. concerned with machines or machinery

3. relating to or controlled or operated by physical forces

4. of or concerned with mechanics

5. (of a gesture, etc) automatic; lacking thought, feeling, etc

6. philosophy accounting for phenomena by physically determining forces

7. (of paper, such as newsprint) made from pulp that has been mechanically ground and contains impurities

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noun

1. printing another name for camera-ready copy

2. archaic another word for mechanic

Other Word Forms

• mechanicalism noun
• mechanicality noun
• mechanically adverb
• mechanicalness noun
• nonmechanical adjective
• nonmechanically adverb
• nonmechanicalness noun
• quasi-mechanical adjective
• quasi-mechanically adverb
• semimechanical adjective
• supermechanical adjective
• supermechanically adverb
• unmechanical adjective
• unmechanically adverb

Etymology

Origin of mechanical

1375–1425; late Middle English, equivalent to mechanic mechanical + -al ¹; mechanic

Explanation

Use the adjective mechanical to describe something related to machinery or tools. If your car breaks down on the same day that your watch stops, you've got a lot of mechanical problems. You’ll most often hear mechanical used to describe something involving a machine. A mechanical problem at work might mean the copier has broken down again. Mechanical can also refer to physical forces, called mechanics having to do with how things move, like the mechanical elegance of a pendulum. We also use mechanical for human things that are so tedious, repetitive or automatic that they feel like they're done by machines and not people.

Example Sentences

Originally a maker of mechanical accounting machines and punch-card systems, IBM was an early entrant in personal computers, though it ultimately pivoted to IT consulting before the turn of the 21st century.

From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026

And there’s always a hummingbird, designed “like a mechanical Fabergé egg,” hidden among the art.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026

She devised a system that hulled and cleaned corn kernels, and then used mechanical pestles or stamping mechanisms to process the kernels into meal that could be used to bake bread and make other food.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

We’re tapping digital buttons that now stand in for physical buttons that once stood in for a mechanical method for interacting with a complex system.

From Slate • Apr. 4, 2026

It was engineers such as de Caus who, by generalizing the concept of a moving mechanism, made the clockwork universe and the mechanical man possible.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

Related Words

• automated
• automatic