Mechanism

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈmik.ə.nɪ.zəm/

Definitions

1. A set of interrelated components that work together to achieve a specific goal or function
2. A device made of interconnected parts designed to perform a particular mechanical function ; a method or arrangement that produces a specific result in a system
3. An assembly of components arranged to accomplish movement or operation ; a procedure that explains how an outcome is achieved within a process

Etymology: Ancient Greeks used "mēkhanē" for any ingenious contrivance: a device, a stratagem, or a clever trick. The word was a close cousin of "mēkhos", a means or expedient, and it carried the sense of cunning as much as of machinery. Its Greek roots reach back to an Indo-European base linked to the idea of getting something done by skill. The English word "mechanism" is not a direct inheritance from Greek. It was borrowed as a learned term from New Latin "mechanismus", a coinage built on the Greek stem. Scholars in the early modern period reached for such Latinised forms when they needed precise vocabulary, and "mechanism" took on the sense of a system of parts working together to produce motion, a usage that suited the mechanical philosophy of the seventeenth century. Its modern meanings, from the workings of a clock to the processes inside a living body or a chemical reaction, all grow from that core image of interlinked parts. The Greek sense of a clever device survives in the idea of a means by which something is achieved.

Synonyms: system, process, method, structure, device

Antonyms: disorder, chaos, dysfunction, inefficiency, breakdown