bot

1 of 3

noun (1)

ˈbät 

1

: robot

Bennett's referring to … a new police robot. It looks similar to the Albuquerque Bomb Squad robot next to it—both have cameras, an articulated arm, a mechanical gripper, and tank-like treads. But Benett's bot is different; it has brains.

—Popular Science

2

a

: a computer program that performs automatic repetitive tasks : agent sense 5

Several shopping "bots" will track down prices for on-line merchandise from a variety of vendors.

—Sam Vincent Meddis

especially : one designed to perform a malicious action

These bot programs churn away all day and night, prodding at millions of random IP addresses looking for holes to crawl through.

—Jennifer Tanaka

b

: a computer that has been infected with a bot and can be used for malicious purposes as part of a network of infected computers

These proxies then sent instructions to worker bots in set patterns, including templates for spam creation.

—Jeff Hecht

3

: a computer program or character (as in a game) designed to mimic the actions of a person

bot

2 of 3

noun (2)

variants or less commonly bott

: the larva of a botfly

especially : one infesting the horse

bot

3 of 3

abbreviation

1

botanical; botanist; botany

2

bottle

3

bottom

4

bought

Examples of bot in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Oh, and some definite votes for Poe as a way to use all the bots in one place. Perplexity. —David Pierce, The Verge, 21 Apr. 2024

Take Microsoft’s Bing bot, which reportedly told one user the incorrect date and then scolded the individual for pointing out the bot’s error. —Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 19 Apr. 2024

The bot is adorably named VOTE-E, and is built on OpenAI’s GPT-4. —Makena Kelly, WIRED, 18 Apr. 2024

Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth Unveil Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga Details at CinemaCon Hemsworth, 40, voices Orion Pax while Henry, 42, voices D-16, both bots on the planet Cybertron who are destined to become giant transformer warriors. —Jack Smart, Peoplemag, 18 Apr. 2024

The bot's goal is to deceive his fellow contestants and land in their endgame. —Grace Tucker, The Enquirer, 15 Apr. 2024

Moreover, conflating bots with women misunderstands the nature of misogyny. —Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024

But new footage of the bots dribbling, defending, and shooting goals shows off just how good a coach deep reinforcement learning could be for humanoid machines. —Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 10 Apr. 2024

Multiple other artists and managers interviewed for this article have been the target of multiple bot attacks, which generated massive amounts of artificial streams and fake followers. —Ari Herstand, Variety, 9 Apr. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

by shortening

Noun (2)

Middle English; akin to Dutch leverbot liver fluke

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1969, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

bot

1 of 2 noun

ˈbät

: the larva of a botfly

bot

2 of 2 noun

1

: robot

2

: a computer program that performs automatic, repetitive, and sometimes harmful tasks

3

: a computer program or character that mimics human actions

Medical Definition

bot

1 of 2 noun

variants also bott

ˈbät 

: the larva of a botfly

especially : one infesting the horse

bot

2 of 2 abbreviation

1

botanical; botanist; botany

2

bottle