robot

Syllables: ro·bot/ˈɹəʊ.bɒt//ˈɹoʊ.bɑt/

robot noun: a system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.

Image: Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

robot (uncountable)

(historical) A system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.
- “I say again, down with the robot!—he is a dog who yields it!”1849, Littell's Living Age, volume 23, page 309
- Although the robot varied from region to region, it was rarely less than burdensome.2007, Tim Blanning, The Pursuit of Glory, Penguin, published 2008, page 159

Noun (2)

robot (plural robots)

An intelligent mechanical being designed to look like a human or other creature, and usually made from metal.
- Young Rossum invented a worker with a minimum amount of requirements. He had to simplify him. He rejected everything that did not contribute directly to the progress of work—everything that makes man more expensive. In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot. My dear Miss Glory, the Robots are not...c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1923, →OCLC, Act...
- The robots in Dick's novel, loosely adapted by Ridley Scott into the film Blade Runner, were so similar to humans that when they went rogue, trained bounty hunters were called in to perform psychological tests to see whether suspected androids lacked human empathy.2010 January 26, Tom Chivers, Iain McDiarmid, The Telegraph
A machine built to carry out some complex task or group of tasks by physically moving, especially one which can be programmed.
- We have a robot in the house that does the vacuuming.
- It's painfully slow and complex work which has never been attempted before in these conditions: the small box-shaped robots, equipped with two claws, are operating in almost freezing water 5,000ft below the surface, in pitch black and strong currents.2010 May 16, Tim Webb, “BP fights to stop the Gulf of Mexico spill – and salvage its reputation”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 09 Jun 2021
A bot, software designed to perform a task.
- Clifton Sellers attended a Zoom meeting last month where robots outnumbered humans.2025 July 2, Lisa Bonos, Danielle Abril, “No one likes meetings. They’re sending their AI note takers instead.”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, archived from the original on 02 Jul 2025
(figuratively) A person who does not seem to have any emotions or individuality.
- Straight society tries to change us by several means. Most of the time, it is mental torture, though physical abuse is not uncommon. We are programmed to be straight starting from the day we are born, and every action, word, and feeling must conform to the straight image. If we DO decide to be free...1973 December 22, Satya, “It Is Not We Who Must Change”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 27, page 3
- Yet surely he was a humorless robot of a man, spewing forth lonely and bitter critiques of all those lesser mortals with whom he could not identify.2006, Murray N. Rothbard, Making Economic Sense, page xiv
(South Africa) A traffic light (from earlier robot policeman).
A theodolite which follows the movements of a prism and can be used by a one-man crew.
(preceded by definite article) A style of dance popular in disco in which the dancer imitates the stiff movements of a stereotypical android robot.

Noun (3)

robot (plural robots)

(Internet, 4chan slang) A habitual poster on the /r9k/ board on 4chan; a member of the /r9k/ community.
- One anonymous message addressed to "fellow robots" hoped readers would have "an enjoyable Elliot Rodger day"—a reference to the shooter who killed six near a Santa Barbara university last year.2015 October 1, David Kravets, “Ominous messages left on 4chan day before Oregon college killings [Updated]”, in Ars Technica, archived from the original on 06 Dec 2022
- Posters on the board are locked in an ongoing debate about who can be one of them— a "robot." Can white guys be robots, despite their privilege? Can black guys? Women love them! It goes on and on. Only one rule really seems to be agreed upon: "If you have no friends and no gf you are a robot."2015 October 3, Jay Hathaway, “How 4chan Trolled Two of Its Friends by Framing Them for the Oregon Mass Shooting”, in Gawker, archived from the original on 20 Nov 2022

robot meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

robot in Hindi

intelligent mechanical being: रोबोट roboṭ, यंत्रमानव yantramānav

robot in Tamil

intelligent mechanical being: ரோபோ rōpō, தானியங்கி tāṉiyaṅki

robot in Marathi

intelligent mechanical being: यंत्रमानव yantramānav, रोबोट roboṭ, रोबो robo
machine to perform complex tasks: रोबॉट robŏṭ, रोबो robo

robot in Urdu

intelligent mechanical being: روبوٹ roboṭ, روبالَہ robāla

More languagesFewer languages

robot in Bengali: রোবট rōboṭ, যন্ত্রমানব jontromanob
robot in Telugu: మరమనిషి maramaniṣi
robot in Malayalam: റോബറ്റ്, യന്ത്രമനുഷ്യൻ
robot in Kannada: ಯಂತ್ರಮಾನವ yantramānava
robot in Punjabi: ਰੋਬੋਟ
robot in Gujarati: રોબોટ
robot in Odia: ରୋବୋଟ୍, ରୋବଟ୍, ରୋବଟ
robot in Sinhala: රොබෝ robō
robot in Nepali: रोबोट, रोबट
robot in Pashto: روبوټ roboṭ
robot in Tagalog: robot
robot in Arabic: رُوبُوت rōbōt, رُوبُوط rōbōṭ, إِنْسَان آلِيّ ʔinsān ʔāliyy, رَجُل آلِيّ rajul ʔāliyy
robot in Malay: robot
robot in Indonesian: robot
robot in Persian: رُبات robât, روبات rôbât
robot in Thai: หุ่นยนต์ hùn-yon, โรบอต rōo-bɔ̀t
robot in Vietnamese: người máy, rô-bốt, rô bốt, rôbốt
robot in Myanmar: စက်ရုပ် cak-rup

Examples of robot in a sentence

In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot.c. 1921 (date written), Karel Čapek, translated by Paul Selver, R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots): A Fantastic Melodrama […], Garden City...
Compared to humanoids, industrial robots typically feature less advanced technology and perform less sophisticated tasks.2025 March 25, John Liu, “Elon Musk thinks robots are a $10 trillion business. He’s got some competition from China”, in CNN Business...
If we DO decide to be free rather than to be robots, here are some of the consequences.1973 December 22, Satya, “It Is Not We Who Must Change”, in Gay Community News, volume 1, number 27, page 3:
CT, a fellow robot will take up arms against a university near Philadelphia.2015 October 5, Justin Wm. Moyer, anonymous quotee, “Philadelphia colleges on alert after 4chan post threatens violence Monday”, in The...

All 40 example sentences with robot

Synonyms of robot

Forms of robot

plural	robots

Plural of robot: robots

Origin of robot

From German Robot, from a West Slavic language, ultimately related to Etymology 2, below.

Borrowed from Czech robot, from robota (“drudgery, servitude”). Coined in the 1920 science-fiction play R.U.R. by Karel Čapek after having been suggested to him by his brother Josef. Ultimately a cognate with Middle English arveth from Old English earfoþe, and German Arbeit; see dialectal erf. Doublet of etymology 1. Related to English orphan, but with a -t- suffix from Proto-Slavic instead of the -an- from Ancient Greek. Compare Polish robotnik and Russian работник (rabotnik, “worker”), sometimes mistakenly cited as the direct source of the English word.

Referencing the origin of the name of the 4chan imageboard /r9k/ (created in 2008), so-called because it implements the ROBOT9000 algorithm by Randall Munroe to prevent the reposting of content. Possibly overlapping with the sense of robot (“a person who does not seem to have any emotions”), alluding to autism, due to the prevalence of personal stories describing awkward or embarrassing situations on the board.

Words formed from robot

Phrases with robot

Questions about robot

What does robot mean?: Robot means a system of serfdom used in Central Europe, under which a tenant's rent was paid in forced labour.
What is robot in Hindi?: Robot in Hindi is रोबोट (roboṭ), यंत्रमानव (yantramānav). See Robot meaning in Hindi.
How do you use robot in a sentence?: In fact, he rejected man and made the Robot.
What part of speech is robot?: Robot is a noun.
How do you pronounce robot?: Robot is pronounced /ˈɹəʊ.bɒt/ (UK).
What is the plural of robot?: The plural of robot is robots.

Words near robot in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: robot (page history and authors); robot (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); robot (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); robot (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); robot (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); robot (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-robot.wav, en-us-robot.ogg, en-au-robot.ogg.

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