MECHANICS

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mechanics mean? 

• MECHANICS (noun)
  The noun MECHANICS has 2 senses:

1. the branch of physics concerned with the motion of bodies in a frame of reference

2. the technical aspects of doing something

  Familiarity information: MECHANICS used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MECHANICS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The branch of physics concerned with the motion of bodies in a frame of reference

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("mechanics" is a kind of...):

natural philosophy; physics (the science of matter and energy and their interactions)

Domain member category:

reaction ((mechanics) the equal and opposite force that is produced when any force is applied to a body)

jerk ((mechanics) the rate of change of acceleration)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mechanics"):

classical mechanics; Newtonian mechanics (the branch of mechanics based on Newton's laws of motion)

fluid mechanics; hydraulics (study of the mechanics of fluids)

pneumatics (the branch of mechanics that deals with the mechanical properties of gases)

statics (the branch of mechanics concerned with forces in equilibrium)

dynamics; kinetics (the branch of mechanics concerned with the forces that cause motions of bodies)

kinematics (the branch of mechanics concerned with motion without reference to force or mass)

aerodynamics; aeromechanics (the branch of mechanics that deals with the motion of gases (especially air) and their effects on bodies in the flow)

Derivation:

mechanical (relating to or governed by or in accordance with mechanics)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The technical aspects of doing something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

mechanics; mechanism

Context example:

the mechanics of prose style

Hypernyms ("mechanics" is a kind of...):

carrying into action; carrying out; execution; performance (the act of performing; of doing something successfully; using knowledge as distinguished from merely possessing it)

Derivation:

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

mechanical (relating to or governed by or in accordance with mechanics)

 Context examples 

The study of the mechanics of a living body, especially of the forces exerted by muscles and gravity on the skeletal structure.

(Biomechanics, NCI Thesaurus)

Various interactions can be studied depending on the specific mechanics of the probe.

(Atomic Resolution Microscopy, NCI Thesaurus)

The greater understanding of volcanism could alter scientists' perception of the mechanics of ice-sheet loss, including in the areas where the glaciers meet the sea.

(Previously unsuspected volcanic activity confirmed under West Antarctic Ice Sheet at Pine Island Glacier, National Science Foundation)

A subdiscipline of Kinetics that studies the rates and mechanics of enzymes and enzyme-driven reactions.

(Enzyme Kinetics, NCI Thesaurus)

Human HMGA Family Genes encode HMGA proteins that participate in many nuclear processes ranging from chromosome and chromatin mechanics to transcription factors that regulate gene expression.

(HMGA Family Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great perfection in mechanics, by the countenance and encouragement of the emperor, who is a renowned patron of learning.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

At this level, phenomena are controlled primarily by Coulombic forces, quantum mechanics, and the random thermal motion of particles.

(Nanoscale Phenomena, NCI Thesaurus)

Kinetics is the branch of mechanics concerned with the forces that cause motions of bodies and govern the rates at which molecules and compounds react.

(Kinetics, NCI Thesaurus)

The researchers are inventing new materials that are small, fast, and can perform in a multitude of ways, such as mimicking neurons in the brain, computing with magnets, and calculating with quantum mechanics.

(Picoscience and a plethora of new materials, National Science Foundation)

Chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, and spectroscopy are some areas of chemistry comprising the bulk of physical chemistry.

(Physical Chemistry, NCI Thesaurus)