MACHINERY

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Machines or machine systems collectively

Classified under:

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

machine (any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of human tasks)

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

enginery (machinery consisting of engines collectively)

technology (machinery and equipment developed from engineering or other applied sciences)

grinder; mill; milling machinery (machinery that processes materials by grinding or crushing)

Derivation:

machine (make by machinery)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A system of means and activities whereby a social institution functions

Example:

the machinery of command labored and brought forth an order

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

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

scheme; system (a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising a unified whole)

Credits

Context examples:

Motif may be dually phosphorylated on tyrosine that links antigen receptors to downstream signaling machinery.

(ITAM, NCI Thesaurus)

This allowed the force-generating machinery inside the cells to shorten further and faster.

(Microtubules’ role in heart cell contraction revealed, NIH)

I thought it might have become shredded in the post office machinery due to the very thin paper of the envelope she had sent me with her address on it.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The investigators found that it prevented the further spread of pancreatic cancer by disrupting the protein-making machinery of cancer cells, and mice treated with metarrestin lived longer than mice without treatment.

(Scientists develop potential new approach to stop cancer metastasis, National Institutes of Health)

The mitochondrial outer membrane contains the multi-subunit machinery responsible for the specific recognition and translocation of precursor proteins.

(Outer Mitochondrial Membrane, NCI Thesaurus)

She smiled, said nothing, and with Hannah's help did their neglected work, keeping home pleasant and the domestic machinery running smoothly.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Proteins that regulate transcription via interaction with chromatin and basal transcription machinery at the promoter regions of genes.

(Nuclear Receptor, NCI Thesaurus)

This inhibits the religation of topoisomerase I-mediated single-stranded DNA breaks and produces potentially lethal double-stranded DNA breaks when encountered by the DNA replication machinery, resulting in the inhibition of DNA replication and apoptosis.

(Mureletecan, NCI Thesaurus)

To determine the composition of gut microbes in the stool samples, the scientists examined sequence variation within ribosomal RNA (rRNA), a central component of the protein-manufacturing machinery of all living cells.

(Infant gut microbes linked to allergy, asthma risk, NIH)

They chose from 3 distinct subclasses of β-lactam compounds that target different aspects of the cell wall synthesis machinery in MRSA: meropenem, piperacillin, and tazobactam (ME/PI/TZ).