automaton

Speech parts

1. automaton - Noun

2. automaton - Verb

Meaning

Any thing or being regarded as having the power of spontaneous motion or action.

A self-moving machine, or one which has its motive power within itself; -- applied chiefly to machines which appear to imitate spontaneously the motions of living beings, such as men, birds, etc.

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Examples

CAT, n. A soft, indestructible automaton provided by nature to be kicked when things go wrong in the domestic circle. Ambrose Bierce

We would be better off thinking of nature as a tiger than as a docile and compliant automaton that can never threaten our survival. Bruno Latour

If individual liberty goes, then surely all is lost, for, if the individual ceases to count, what is left of society? Individual freedom alone can make a man voluntarily surrender himself completely to the service of society. If it is wrested from him, he becomes automaton and society is ruined. Mahatma Gandhi

The mosquito is an automaton. It can afford to be nothing else. E. O. Wilson

Determine to do some thinking for yourself. Don't live entirely upon the thoughts of others. Don't be an automaton. James Cash Penney

What destroys a man more quickly than to work, think and feel without inner necessity, without any deep personal desire, without pleasure - as a mere automaton of duty? Friedrich Nietzsche

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