Word.ws English Dictionary

automat

/ˈɔtəmæt/

automat noun: a vending machine for food.

automat: a vending machine for food
Image: Ciell, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

automat (plural automats)

  1. A vending machine for food.
  2. (historical) A cafeteria consisting of vending machines.
    • People from all levels of society ate in Automats at least occasionally. Movies often cast their cosmopolitan stars dropping coins in Horn & Hardart's slots, and tourists felt compelled to visit an Automat.1986, Philip Langdon, Orange Roofs, Golden Arches: The Architecture of American Chain Restaurants, Alfred A. Knopf
    • The Automat, whose gleaming chrome-and-glass machines brought high-tech eating to a low-tech era, has gulped down its last coin and served up its last helping of macaroni, baked beans and kaiser rolls.
    • The last Automat in the country, in midtown Manhattan, closed on Tuesday, a victim of changing eating habits. […] There were 30 Automats in New York when Mr. Stern was a young Western Union bicycle messenger stopping in for lemon meringue pie between deliveries.1991 April 11, James Barron, “Last Automat Closes, Its Era Long Gone”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 26 Dec 2022

Noun (2) capitalized: Automat

Automat (plural Automats)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of automat, in particular one operated by Horn & Hardart.
    • When King George sat down in Perylon Hall he thrust his gray topper under the chair, just as you do when you're in the Automat.1939 June 12, “At the fair”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Nov 2025
    • Breaking away from the traditional self-service policy of the Automats, which has been followed since the company was organized in 1911, the new restaurant will mark Horn & Hardart's first expansion in the New York area since 1938.1949 December 18, “No coins in slots at the new Automat”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Nov 2025

Forms of automat

pluralautomats
alternative formAutomat
pluralAutomats

Origin of automat

Borrowed from German Automat, as the system was originally developed in Germany in the late 19th c. Doublet of automaton.

Questions about automat

What does automat mean?
Automat means a vending machine for food.
What part of speech is automat?
Automat is a noun.
How do you pronounce automat?
Automat is pronounced /ˈɔtəmæt/ (US).
What is the plural of automat?
The plural of automat is automats.

Words near automat in the dictionary

  1. automaps
  2. automask
  3. automasks
  4. automasochistic
  5. automassage
  6. automat
  7. automata
  8. automatability
  9. automatable
  10. automate
  11. automated

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: automat (page history and authors); Automat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Neøn-automat.wav.

Cite this entry: “automat.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/automat. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.