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 more decisions become automated, organizations should stop asking whether the system made the right decision, and start asking what each decision does to the rest of the network. — Amruth Puppala, Forbes.com, 29 Sep. 2026

The prediction, which is based on Gartner surveys and interactions with clients, makes a distinction between AI that can support decision making through insights, for example, and AI that can automate the decision making. — Roy Stephen Canivel, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2026

The company’s push to automate corporate work has added another dimension to the restructuring. — Winston Cho, HollywoodReporter, 29 Sep. 2026

Ricochet’s 18-detector setup studies elusive reactor neutrinos while new software automates monitoring and analysis. — Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 26 Sep. 2026

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

Rhymes for automate

• abdicate
• abrogate
• acetate
• activate
• actuate
• aggravate
• agitate
• alginate
• alienate
• allocate
• amputate
• angulate

Kids Definition

automate

verb

au·​to·​mate ˈȯt-ə-ˌmāt 

automated; automating

1

: to operate by automation

2

: to convert to mainly automatic operation