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

So, right now what the Clean Slate Initiative is, our mission is to automate record clearance. —Dana Taylor, USA TODAY, 27 Apr. 2024

Listen In a world where most things are automated and run by algorithms, one thing that has yet to be replicated is the feeling of being heard. —Michael Kennedy, Rolling Stone, 26 Apr. 2024

The agency has required Tesla and other automakers to report crashes involving partially and fully automated driving systems. —Tom Krisher, Quartz, 26 Apr. 2024

Drive-thru lanes will be totally automated as soon as McDonald’s develops a robot that can screw up a to-go order. —John Phillips, Orange County Register, 23 Apr. 2024

Technology that predicts floods, droughts, heatwaves, and other natural disasters could even be used to automate direct cash transfers to the people most vulnerable, Duflo added. —Sunny Nagpaul, Fortune, 20 Apr. 2024

In fact, the KPMG survey found that 61% of US CEOs are encouraging employees to use generative AI to automate mundane tasks to relieve stress and manage their workloads. —Matt Egan, CNN, 12 Apr. 2024

Restaurants that stay will automate more jobs and charge higher prices. —Phillip Molnar, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Apr. 2024

Content moderation can go wrong in numerous ways, especially when automated, but Stone did not answer replies asking about the nature of this error. —Rob Pegoraro, PCMAG, 5 Apr. 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