✨📕 The NEWThe NEW Collegiate Dictionary, 12th Edition Over 5,000 words added — Buy Now! Collegiate DictionaryBuy Now!

vending machine

noun

: a coin-operated machine for selling merchandise

Examples of vending machine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The pasta and sauces are produced daily at the shop, then packaged and delivered to the vending machine for customers to take home and cook in minutes. Loureen Ayyoub, CBS News, 21 Nov. 2025 Even the mild-mannered Waterboy is upset, knocking over cups in the kitchen in his own weak way — that is, until emotion gets the best of him, leading to the lanky hero hurling a chair through the vending machine. Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 13 Nov. 2025 Unfortunately for fans of Chick-fil-A, the vending machines will honor the restaurant’s longtime protocol of being closed on Sundays, but the machines are available for 24 hours every other day. Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 24 Oct. 2025 The day of the show, thirty-three models, each bearing or wearing their runway outfit, reported for hair and makeup to a third-floor room with vending machines in it. Henry Alford, New Yorker, 22 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for vending machine

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1895, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of vending machine was circa 1895

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Vending machine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vending%20machine. Accessed 30 Nov. 2025.

Kids Definition

vending machine

noun
: a machine from which one may get merchandise after putting in coins

More from Merriam-Webster on vending machine

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!