Turing machine

noun

Tu·​ring machine ˈtu̇r-iŋ- 

ˈtyu̇r-

: a hypothetical computing machine that by using only a limited set of very simple computational steps is able to perform any task for which an efficiently computable algorithm is known

Examples of Turing machine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Your goal is to find the n-rule Turing machine that runs the longest before eventually halting. —Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 22 Aug. 2025

To this end, software engineer Alex Churchill and two other Magic players created a game situation in which the cards act as a universal computer—as a Turing machine. —Manon Bischoff, Scientific American, 22 Apr. 2025

Moore designed his pinball machine to complete the analogy to the Turing machine. —Charlie Wood, Wired News, 6 Apr. 2025

It’s known that there’s no algorithm that can answer this for every Turing machine. —Joseph Howlett, WIRED, 9 Mar. 2025

Universality and Task Robots Universality is essentially the idea that a Turing machine could complete the work of other Turing machines in a unified field theory of capability. —John Werner, Forbes, 24 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

A. M. Turing †1954 English mathematician

First Known Use

1937, in the meaning defined above

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