simple machine

American  

noun

Mechanics.

1. machine.

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simple machine British  

noun

1. a simple device for altering the magnitude or direction of a force. The six basic types are the lever, wheel and axle, pulley, screw, wedge, and inclined plane

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simple machine Scientific  

1. See under machine

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Etymology

Origin of simple machine

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Henry Ford’s Model T, by contrast, was a crude but ingeniously simple machine.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 5, 2025

First, the messages that she worked on came from a relatively simple machine.

From Scientific American • Oct. 12, 2023

The researchers said that their method had succeeded by following a relatively simple machine learning approach.

From Science Daily • Oct. 5, 2023

Microphones in the robot’s ears allow it to triangulate sound and turn to nearby noise while cameras in its eyeballs run a simple machine vision program to track hands and faces.

From The Verge • May 4, 2022

The answer is easy: he would carefully observe his environment to see what materials he could use to make a simple machine, like a pulley or a lever.

From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau