Meaning & use
automaton
A self-operating machine, especially one designed to imitate the movements of a living being.
See it in a sentence
The museum's eighteenth-century automaton could still draw a small picture with its mechanical hand.
He moved through the meeting like an automaton, answering every question without emotion.
A note on using this word
The plural can be either 'automatons' or the Greek-derived 'automata'; both are considered correct in modern English.
Words with a similar meaning
robotmechanism
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
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