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

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Etymology

Origin of mechanistic

First recorded in 1880–85; mechanist + -ic

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mechanistic

"Across several kinds of brain cells, this paired view revealed a consistent signature of 3D genome reorganization in Alzheimer's disease and helped us prioritize regulatory regions for future mechanistic and therapeutic investigation."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

He calls it a "mechanistic world model", which will structure knowledge in a way the AI can use efficiently.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

The 43-minute work for four couples is set to austere and mechanistic piano pieces, inspiring a succession of solo, duo and grouped choreographic configurations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 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

Both these arguments thus depended on prior acceptance of the mechanistic or corpuscular philosophy, according to which matter is passive and always acted on from outside.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

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