Machinelike

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having the precise, mechanical, or repetitive quality associated with a machine rather than a living being
2. Resembling a machine in its regular, tireless, or unfeeling manner of working or moving
3. Suggesting the workings of a machine through a mechanical, automatic, or rigidly repeated style

Etymology: "Machinelike" is a plain compound: "machine" with the suffix "-like," which comes from Old English "-līċ," meaning "having the form or quality of." The suffix has a long pedigree of its own, descending from a Proto-Germanic word for "body" or "form," and it attached freely to English nouns, so it is no surprise that "machine" took it. The noun "machine" is the more interesting half. It traces back to ancient Greek "mēkhanē," a word for a contrivance or device, which the Romans borrowed as "māchina." It passed into English through Middle French "machine," so the word has been carrying the idea of a clever contrivance for a very long time before anyone thought of machines as engines of industry. Read this way, "machinelike" describes something that behaves as if it were built from the same kind of contrivance: regular, mechanical, and without much feeling. The adjective adds that quality to the Greek device without changing the Greek root.

Synonyms: mechanical, robotic, automated, mechanistic

Antonyms: organic, natural, human