Definition of mechanism
1 a
: a piece of machinery (see machinery 1)
- The camera's shutter mechanism is broken.
b
: a process, technique, or system for achieving a result
- the mechanisms of peace
- —F. D. Roosevelt
2
: mechanical operation or action : working 2
- he acknowledges nothing besides matter and motion; so that all must be performed either by mechanism or by accident
- —Richard Bentley
3
: a doctrine that holds natural processes (as of life) to be mechanically determined and capable of complete explanation by the laws of physics and chemistry
4
: the fundamental processes involved in or responsible for an action, reaction, or other natural phenomenon
- meteorologists believe that this pressure jump is the mechanism responsible for storms and tornadoes
- —Think
