robot
Americannoun
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robots
plural
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a machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command.
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a person who acts and responds in a mechanical, routine manner, usually subject to another's will; automaton.
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any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically with humanlike skill.
adjective
noun
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any automated machine programmed to perform specific mechanical functions in the manner of a man
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(modifier) not controlled by man; automatic
a robot pilot
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a person who works or behaves like a machine; automaton
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a set of traffic lights
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
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
Explanation
A robot is a mechanical creation that can move or act on its own. Science fiction is full of robots. Also called droids, Cylons, and bots, robots are certainly the stuff of science fiction stories. But there are plenty of real robots out there in the world, using their mechanical smarts to make life easier. There are robots that can vacuum the rug, dance, perform surgery, clean oil spills, and even build cars. The field of robotics is growing all the time. Maybe someday you'll even have that robot butler so many of us have dreamed about.
Vocabulary lists containing robot
Engineering - Introductory
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Engineering - Middle School
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Engineering - High School
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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.
See Examples For:
Chinese smartphone maker Honor said Lightning - a thin black and red robot - ran the distance in 9.32 seconds at the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
A robot horse and dancing humanoids are among the machines that have been showcased by Chinese manufacturers at a conference in Beijing.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
What works for one kind of robot doesn’t work on another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
At the Unitree booth, a robot made a sandwich with two slices of bread and a single piece of lettuce, pinching the leaf to assemble it.
From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026
And suddenly the giant robot pelican suit swooped its wings and took flight.
From "Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody" by Patrick Ness
Beyond cars, XPeng has been investing in autonomous driving and humanoid robots as it pushes to become a physical AI company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
More than 2,000 robots from 16 countries are expected to compete in the games.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
“We don’t want to watch robots play basketball.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
This is fairly typical criteria for many mainstream robots, but it excludes most two-legged humanoid robots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
Everything was hauled to the surface and dumped into robotic barges, and then the fleet of cleanup robots sailed away.
From "The Wild Robot Protects" by Peter Brown
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.
