mechanize
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make mechanical.
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to operate or perform by or as if by machinery.
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to introduce machinery into (an industry, enterprise, etc.), especially in order to replace manual labor.
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Military. to equip with tanks and other armored vehicles.
verb
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to equip (a factory, industry, etc) with machinery
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to make mechanical, automatic, or monotonous
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to equip (an army, etc) with motorized or armoured vehicles
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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has mechanizedperfect 3rd person singular
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have mechanizedperfect
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has been mechanizingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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have been mechanizingperfect progressive
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are mechanizingprogressive
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is mechanizingprogressive 3rd person singular
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mechanizessingular 3rd person
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mechanizingparticiple
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am mechanizingprogressive 1st person singular
Past
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had mechanizedperfect
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was mechanizingprogressive singular
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mechanizedparticiple
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were mechanizingprogressive plural
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mechanizedsimple
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had been mechanizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of mechanize
First recorded in 1695–1705; mechan(ic) + -ize
Explanation
When you use machines to streamline a process or job, you mechanize it. If you’re tired of pedaling uphill, mechanize your bike by putting a motor on it. Whenever someone uses automation or technology to do work that was previously done by humans, they mechanize that work. Throughout history, and especially since the Industrial Revolution, inventors have mechanized jobs that were once done by hand. Factories mechanize processes such as making glass bottles, once done more slowly and laboriously by glassblowers. Mechanize is rooted in the Greek mekhanikos, which means "inventive" or "pertaining to machines."
Vocabulary lists containing mechanize
Content Summary 5.3: The First Industrial Revolution
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Content Summary 6.1: Origins and Outcomes of World War I in Global Context
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The Modern Period, c. 1750 to c. 1914
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Paris’s enormous science and technology museum is a reminder of France’s role in helping the world modernize and mechanize.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 10, 2026
Other growers are trying industrial-scale greenhouses, indoor beds of soil in massive warehouses and special robots to mechanize parts of the farming process.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 17, 2023
Leonard: There’s no way to mechanize it completely, at least not in a way that makes us all feel good about the outcome.
From Slate • Jun. 17, 2020
These jobs are difficult to mechanize or to perform with greater efficiency.
From New York Times • Feb. 23, 2017
It was Foaly’s idea to mechanize the whole procedure.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
