MECHANICAL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mechanical mean? 

• MECHANICAL (adjective)
  The adjective MECHANICAL has 3 senses:

1. using (or as if using) mechanisms or tools or devices

2. relating to or concerned with machinery or tools

3. relating to or governed by or in accordance with mechanics

  Familiarity information: MECHANICAL used as an adjective is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MECHANICAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Using (or as if using) mechanisms or tools or devices

Context example:

a mechanical toy

Similar:

automatic; automatonlike; machinelike; robotic; robotlike (resembling the unthinking functioning of a machine)

mechanic (resembling the action of a machine)

mechanistic (explained in terms of physical forces)

mechanised; mechanized (equipped with machinery)

windup (operated by a mechanism)

Antonym:

nonmechanical (not mechanical)

Derivation:

mechanics (the technical aspects of doing something)

mechanism (device consisting of a piece of machinery; has moving parts that perform some function)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Relating to or concerned with machinery or tools

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

mechanical; mechanically skillful; technical

Context example:

a technical fault

Pertainym:

machinery (machines or machine systems collectively)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Relating to or governed by or in accordance with mechanics

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

the mechanical pressure of a strong wind

Pertainym:

mechanics (the branch of physics concerned with the motion of bodies in a frame of reference)

Derivation:

mechanics (the technical aspects of doing something)

mechanics (the branch of physics concerned with the motion of bodies in a frame of reference)

 Context examples 

An electrocardiographic finding of the presence of cardiac electrical rhythm without a proper response of the myocardial tissue and mechanical cardiac output.

(Electromechanical Dissociation by ECG Finding, NCI Thesaurus)

Cancer cells are softer than other cells, and have different mechanical properties.

(Materials, like metallic glass, can help us understand how cells break, NSF)

Then, in a robotic first, the spacecraft will reach out its mechanical arm and take a sample from the asteroid.

(Evening Launch Catapults OSIRIS-REx Toward Asteroid Encounter, NASA)

A non-neoplastic lung disorder which develops in premature neonates who have been treated with oxygen and mechanical ventilation.

(Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, NCI Thesaurus)

Mitotic kinesins or microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) are ATP-powered proteins that convert energy into a mechanical force along the microtubule structure following the hydrolysis of ATP, which occurs during microtubule polymerization.

(Mitotic Kinesin Modulator, NCI Thesaurus)

These materials are characterised by weak mechanical forces between the planes of their crystal structure.

(‘Magnetic graphene’ switches between insulator and conductor, University of Cambridge)

Though, many victims sustained direct mechanical injury from cell phones too.

(Mobile phone could cause physical pain, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

A mechanical device designed to blend materials or an electronic device designed to blend signals.

(Mixer Device Component, NCI Thesaurus)

Evaluating a device for problems resulting from periodic or random mechanical oscillations which could induce damage.

(Device Vibration Testing Evaluation Method, Food and Drug Administration)

The device affects the ability of the blood to clot which may be induced by chemical, mechanical, or thermal properties of the device.

(Device Agglutination Evaluation Result, Food and Drug Administration)