mechanistic

American  

[mek-uh-nis-tik] / ˌmɛk əˈnɪs tɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the theory of mechanism or to mechanists.

2. of or relating to mechanics.

3. mechanical.

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mechanistic British  

/ ˌmɛkəˈnɪstɪk /

adjective

1. philosophy of or relating to the theory of mechanism

2. maths of or relating to mechanics

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Other Word Forms

• antimechanistic adjective
• antimechanistically adverb
• mechanistically adverb
• nonmechanistic adjective
• semimechanistic adjective
• unmechanistic adjective

Etymology

Origin of mechanistic

First recorded in 1880–85; mechanist + -ic

Example Sentences

In the new study, researchers from the Max Planck Institute and NYU uncovered the first mechanistic explanation for how these distinctive yeast centromeres evolved and identified their genetic origins.

From Science Daily • Mar. 10, 2026

Although researchers understand much about how these proteins function, Clemons points out that important mechanistic details remain unclear.

From Science Daily • Feb. 28, 2026

The researchers plan to combine microbial data with genetic and metabolic information to better understand how gut microbes influence heart disease at a mechanistic level.

From Science Daily • Nov. 12, 2025

“The non-wildland zoning doesn’t involve any direct sort of mechanistic fire behavior assessment,” David Sapsis, a Cal Fire research manager who oversees the mapping efforts, told The Times in January before the rollout began.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 11, 2025

As genetics moved from a material to a mechanistic conception of genes—from what genes are to what they do—human biologists began to perceive long-sought connections between genes, human physiology, and pathology.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee