Mechanism1. (n.) The arrangement or relation of the parts of a machine; the parts of a machine, taken collectively; the arrangement or relation of the parts of anything as adapted to produce an effect; as, the mechanism of a watch; the mechanism of a sewing machine; the mechanism of a seed pod.
2. (n.) Mechanical operation or action.
3. (n.) An ideal machine; a combination of movable bodies constituting a machine, but considered only with regard to relative movements.
Thesaurus Entries
Charlie McCarthy, Marxism, action, agency, agent, ancilla, animalism, apparatus, appliance, approach, arrangement, art, atomism, automatic switch, behaviorism, channel selector, check valve, clockworks, commonsense realism, contour follower, contrivance, control valve, convenience, craft, creature, device, dialectical materialism, drive, drive train, dummy, dupe, earthliness, electronic control, emergency control, empiricism, engine, enginery, epiphenomenalism, expedient, facility, finder switch, fixture, flowmanostat, gear, go-between, going between, handmaid, handmaiden, historical materialism, hylomorphism, hylotheism, hylozoism, implement, innards, instrument, instrumentality, interagent, intermediary, intermediate, intermediation, intermedium, internal selector, lever, machine, machinery, materialism, means, mechanical aid, mechanical device, mechanics, mediation, mediator, medium, method, midwife, minion, monism, motion, motive power, motor, movement, movements, natural realism, naturalism, new realism, organ, organization, pawn, physicalism, physicism, plaything, positive philosophy, positivism, power plant, power source, power train, pragmaticism, pragmatism, procedure, process, puppet, realism, recourse, rectifier, register regulator, representative realism, resort, safety control, safety fuse, safety stop, safety switch, safety valve, science, secularism, selector switch, sequence switch, servant, service, servo valve, servomechanism, skill, slave, stooge, structure, substantialism, system, technic, technical know-how, technical knowledge, technical skill, technics, technique, technology, temporality, thermoswitch, timer, tool, toy, utility, vehicle, voltage regulator, voltage stabilizer, watchworks, way, wheels, wheels within wheels, workings, works, worldliness