Word.ws English Dictionary

automata

/ɔːˈtɒm.ə.tə/

automata is the plural of automaton.

Meaning of automaton

Noun

automaton (plural automatons or automata)

  1. A machine or robot designed to follow a precise sequence of instructions.
    • He has spent many years on the automaton, and it must have cost thousands of pounds in experiment and construction.1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
  2. A person who acts like a machine or robot, often defined as having a monotonous lifestyle and lacking in emotion.
    • Due to her strict adherence to her daily schedule, Jessica was becoming more and more convinced that she was an automaton.
  3. A formal system, such as a finite-state machine or cellular automaton.
  4. A toy in the form of a mechanical figure.
  5. (dated) The self-acting power of the muscular and nervous systems, by which movement is effected without intelligent determination.

Forms of automata

alternative formautomatons

Phrases with automata

Questions about automata

What is automata the plural of?
Automata is the plural of automaton.
How do you pronounce automata?
Automata is pronounced /ɔːˈtɒm.ə.tə/.

Words near automata in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: automata (page history and authors); automaton (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.

Last updated:

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

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