automate

verb

au·​to·​mate ˈȯ-tə-ˌmāt 

automated; automating

transitive verb

1

: to operate by automation

2

: to convert to largely automatic operation

automate a process

intransitive verb

: to undergo automation

automatable

ˈȯ-tə-ˌmā-tə-bəl 

adjective

Examples of automate in a Sentence

The company recently automated its filing process.

a factory that has yet to be automated

a factory that has yet to automate

When companies automate, employees lose jobs.

Recent Examples on the Web

As the other music centers sort of became a little bit more automated, a lot of the best players from Los Angeles and the best players from New York have gravitated toward Nashville. —Deanne Revel, Southern Living, 17 July 2024

Amazon has said it’s begun to automate some tasks and is also rolling out more robotic systems in warehouse facilities that the company says can improve safety, although that prospect has been debated. —Annie Palmer, CNBC, 16 July 2024

Some ways to start saving money right away include canceling unnecessary subscriptions, switching to a higher-yielding bank account, selling used items and automating savings. —Tribune News Service, The Mercury News, 13 July 2024

This includes automating workflows, production at a vast scale and in ways that can target specific individuals. —The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 10 July 2024

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from automation

Note: The formation of automation from automatic entry 1 (or automaton) is idiosyncratic. The -at- of automatic is blended with the suffix -ation, resulting in a word that is no longer divisible into base and suffix. The element -at- mimics, as it were, the -at- of -ate entry 4 and -ation, though in origin it has no relation to it. Another approach to this curious derivation might be to take it as a blend of automatic and operation, though there is no evidence that the coiner had this in mind. A more regular way to derive a verb from automatic would be automatize, and in fact such a word is attested (see automatize, but with a different sense), along with a corresponding noun automatization. In a discussion on automation with the editors of the Atlantic Monthly the mathematician Norbert wiener was said to take "a firm stand on nomenclature": "'Automation,' he says, is barbarous; let it be 'automatization' or nothing" ("Science and Industry," Atlantic Monthly, vol. 195, no. 6 [June, 1955], p. 14). See also the note at automation.

First Known Use

1952, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Kids Definition

automate

verb

au·​to·​mate ˈȯt-ə-ˌmāt 

automated; automating

1

: to operate by automation

2

: to convert to mainly automatic operation