automata [aw-tom-uh-tuh] EXAMPLES| noun a plural of automaton. Liberaldictionary.com
automaton [aw-tom-uh-ton, -tn] noun, plural au·tom·a·tons, au·tom·a·ta [aw-tom-uh-tuh] /ɔˈtɒm ə tə/. a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own motive power; robot. a person or animal that acts in a monotonous, routine manner, without active intelligence. something capable of acting automatically or without an external motive force. Origin of automaton 1605–15; Latin: automatic device Greek, noun use of neuter of autómatos spontaneous, acting without human agency, equivalent to auto- auto-1 + -matos, adj. derivative from base of memonénai to intend, ménos might, forceRelated formsau·tom·a·tous, adjective Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Related Words for automata engine, apparatus, automobile, tool, appliance, instrument, motor, vehicle, gadget, contraption, widget, robot, mechanism, computer, contrivance, implement, thingamabob, automaton, laborer, clone Examples from the Web for automata Historical Examples of automata
Vaucanson, however, did not confine himself merely to the making of automata.
Samuel Smiles
It was simultaneous on the part of all, and resembled that of automata, moved by machinery.
Edward S. Ellis
But in the case of man, what automata, indeed, have we not here!
Samuel Butler
There they stood, automata, representatives of the society which streamed past them.
Henry Adams
You think, too, then, that were all in such a rut; living Chinese lives; automata?
Anne Douglas Sedgwick
British Dictionary definitions for automata automata noun a plural of automaton automaton noun plural -tons or -ta (-tə) a mechanical device operating under its own hidden power; robot a person who acts mechanically or leads a routine monotonous life Derived Formsautomatous, adjectiveWord Origin for automaton C17: from Latin, from Greek, from automatos spontaneous, self-moving Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for automata automaton n.
1610s, from Latin automaton (Suetonius), from Greek automaton, neuter of automatos “self-acting,” from autos “self” (see auto-) + matos “thinking, animated, willing,” from PIE *mn-to-, from root *men- “to think” (see mind (n.)).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper