robotic
Americanadjective
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in the manner of a robot; mechanical; lacking human intelligence or emotion.
He’s so constant and efficient that he looks robotic on the ice, and his scores for artistic performance suffer.
-
performed by a robot without active guidance from a human operator.
Over the course of several robotic missions, NASA gathered information about the surface of Mars and its atmosphere.
Etymology
Origin of robotic
First recorded in 1925–30; robot ( def. ) + -ic ( def. )
Explanation
Something is robotic if it moves or behaves like a machine. If you express no emotion and do things in an automatic-seeming way, your friends might say you're robotic. The adjective robotic can describe something related to the use of robots, like a robotic technique for dismantling a bomb or a robotic tool for surgery. Often, it's used to describe a person who reminds you of a robot: "She gets good grades, but she's so robotic! All she does is work — never has any fun!" Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov is credited with the first use of robotic in 1941.
Vocabulary lists containing robotic
Vocabulary from "There Will Never Be an Age of Artificial Intimacy," by Sherry Turkle
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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.
The Roomba wasn’t the first robotic vacuum but became the most well-known, and Greiner is credited with helping to popularize the use of robots as domestic helpers that can reduce household labor.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026
During the tests, the robot moved autonomously toward selected targets, positioned its instruments using the robotic arm, and transmitted images and spectral data for analysis.
From Science Daily • Apr. 8, 2026
Knowing that Rocky’s voice would come from Grace’s unsophisticated computer setup, Ortiz gathered inspirations, at times subconsciously, from a variety of robotic sources.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 7, 2026
Aside from some robotic probes, no other country has put human beings on the massive rock that orbits our home planet.
From Salon • Apr. 7, 2026
It was suspended by two jointed robotic arms anchored to my apartment’s walls and ceiling.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
