robot

[ roh-bot ]

See synonyms for: robot robots robotic on Thesaurus.com

noun

a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command.
a person who acts and responds in a mechanical, routine manner, usually subject to another's will; automaton.

any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically with humanlike skill.

adjective

operating automatically: a robot train operating between airline terminals.

Origin of robot

<Czech, coined by Karel Čapek in the play R.U.R. (1920) from the base robot-, as in robota compulsory labor, robotník peasant owing such labor

Other words from robot

ro·bot·ism, noun
ro·bot·ic [roh-bot-ik], /roʊˈbɒt ɪk/, ro·bo·tis·tic [roh-buh-tis-tik, -bo-], /ˌroʊ bəˈtɪs tɪk, -bɒ-/, adjective
ro·bot·like, adjective

Words Nearby robot

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use robot in a sentence

Neuralink is building a brain-machine interface as well as a little robot that installs it into your skull.
Elon Musk is one step closer to connecting a computer to your brain | Rebecca Heilweil | August 28, 2020 | Vox
The company’s new research aims to train AI using both visual and audio data, letting smart robots detect and follow objects that make noise as well as use sounds to understand a physical space.
Facebook Wants to Make Smart Robots to Explore Every Nook and Cranny of Your Home | Vanessa Bates Ramirez | August 26, 2020 | Singularity Hub
In 2015, its president joked that by 2020 robots would score gymnastics.
A robot referee can really keep its ‘eye’ on the ball | Kathryn Hulick | August 20, 2020 | Science News For Students
A robot beetle goes the distance on its own thanks to a methanol-fueled micromuscle.
Methanol fuel gives this tiny beetle bot the freedom to roam | Carmen Drahl | August 19, 2020 | Science News
My colleagues and I began putting robots with samplers into the Dry Valley lakes.
He Found ‘Islands of Fertility’ Beneath Antarctica’s Ice | Steve Nadis | July 20, 2020 | Quanta Magazine

Luke Skywalker is an evil robot who has fallen to the dark side of the force.
Juiciest ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Rumors (and Some Debunked Ones) | Rich Goldstein | January 3, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST
“The laser-wielding robot is a real threat,” Hetflaisz says.
Damien Hirst’s Army of Geppettos | Tim Teeman | December 2, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The other culprit, of course, is the one misanthropic jerk who reported “several hundred” names to the Facebook robot.
Facebook Apologizes For, but Doesn’t Retract, Discriminatory ‘Real Name’ Policy | Jay Michaelson | October 1, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The goal of the present research is to help create the programming for a robot that is “a sociable partner.”
Japan's Robots Are Reading Your Emotions | Angela Erika Kubo, Jake Adelstein | August 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
“Technology enables dissent,” the former NSA contractor told the crowd of thousands via video screen, this time sans robot.
Snowden Tells Hackers of the World to Unite | Joshua Kopstein | July 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
A squat robot with undulating arms passed by him, its arms weaving inquiringly.
Second Variety | Philip Kindred Dick
Even the big robot with its two waving eyestalks retreated respectfully as he approached.
Second Variety | Philip Kindred Dick
Jordan's brows contracted as he tried to understand the robot.
The Stutterer | R.R. Merliss
Are these robot-confessors present in the closed classrooms?
The Status Civilization | Robert Sheckley
"A machine cannot be coerced," the robot-confessor told him.
The Status Civilization | Robert Sheckley

British Dictionary definitions for robot

robot

/ (ˈrəʊbɒt) /

noun

any automated machine programmed to perform specific mechanical functions in the manner of a man
(modifier) not controlled by man; automatic: a robot pilot

a person who works or behaves like a machine; automaton
Southern African a set of traffic lights

Origin of robot

C20: (used in R.U.R., a play by Karel Čapek) from Czech robota work; related to Old Slavonic rabota servitude, German Arbeit work

Derived forms of robot

robotic, adjective
robotism or robotry, noun
robot-like, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for robot

robot

[ rō′bŏt′ ]

A machine designed to replace human beings in performing a variety of tasks, either on command or by being programmed in advance.

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