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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Mechanism \Mech"an*ism\, noun [Cf. F. m['e]canisme, L. mechanisma. See {Mechanic}.]
1. The arrangement or relation of the parts of a machine; the parts of a machine, taken collectively; the arrangement or relation of the parts of anything as adapted to produce an effect; as, the mechanism of a watch; the mechanism of a sewing machine; the mechanism of a seed pod.
2. The series of causal relations that operate to produce an effect in any system; as, the mechanism of a chemical reaction. [PJC]
3. Mechanical operation or action.
He acknowledges nothing besides matter and motion; so that all must be performed either by mechanism or accident. --Bentley.
4. (Kinematics) An ideal machine; a combination of movable bodies constituting a machine, but considered only with regard to relative movements.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
mechanism
noun
1: the atomic process that occurs during a chemical reaction; "he determined unique mechanisms for the photochemical reactions" [syn: {chemical mechanism}]
2: the technical aspects of doing something; "a mechanism of social control"; "mechanisms of communication"; "the mechanics of prose style" [syn: {mechanics}]
3: a natural object resembling a machine in structure or function; "the mechanism of the ear"; "the mechanism of infection"
4: (philosophy) the philosophical theory that all phenomena can be explained in terms of physical or biological causes
5: device consisting of a piece of machinery; has moving parts that perform some function
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
149 Moby Thesaurus words for "mechanism": Charlie McCarthy, Marxism, action, agency, agent, ancilla, animalism, apparatus, appliance, approach, arrangement, art, atomism, automatic switch, behaviorism, channel selector, check valve, clockworks, commonsense realism, contour follower, contrivance, control valve, convenience, craft, creature, device, dialectical materialism, drive, drive train, dummy, dupe, earthliness, electronic control, emergency control, empiricism, engine, enginery, epiphenomenalism, expedient, facility, finder switch, fixture, flowmanostat, gear, go-between, going between, handmaid, handmaiden, historical materialism, hylomorphism, hylotheism, hylozoism, implement, innards, instrument, instrumentality, interagent, intermediary, intermediate, intermediation, intermedium, internal selector, lever, machine, machinery, materialism, means, mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanics, mediation, mediator, medium, method, midwife, minion, monism, motion, motive power, motor, movement, movements, natural realism, naturalism, new realism, organ, organization, pawn, physicalism, physicism, plaything, positive philosophy, positivism, power plant, power source, power train, pragmaticism, pragmatism, procedure, process, puppet, realism, recourse, rectifier, register regulator, representative realism, resort, safety control, safety fuse, safety stop, safety switch, safety valve, science, secularism, selector switch, sequence switch, servant, service, servo valve, servomechanism, skill, slave, stooge, structure, substantialism, system, technic, technical know-how, technical knowledge, technical skill, technics, technique, technology, temporality, thermoswitch, timer, tool, toy, utility, vehicle, voltage regulator, voltage stabilizer, watchworks, way, wheels, wheels within wheels, workings, works, worldliness
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |