Mechanicized

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Equipped with machines or powered devices so that work once done by hand or animals is now done by engines
2. Converted to operate through machinery, replacing manual labor with automated or motorized equipment
3. Describing an army, farm, or industry that relies on vehicles and machines rather than human or animal effort

Etymology: "Mechanicized" is the past tense and past participle of "mechanicize," so its story is really the story of that verb. "Mechanicize" builds on "mechanic," which in English has long meant a skilled worker who builds or repairs machines, and the "-ize" ending turns that noun into a verb meaning to make something operate by machinery or to reshape a task around machines. Something that has been mechanicized, then, is something that has been converted to mechanical operation, such as a farm once worked by hand that now runs on tractors.

Synonyms: mechanized, automated, motorized, industrialized

Antonyms: manual, hand-operated