device
Pluraldevices
- 1A thing made to do a particular job, often using machinery or electricity.
Like a tool, but it usually runs on power or has moving parts.
Her phone is a handy device for taking photos.
These small devices help people hear better.
UsageDevice is a thing. Devise, with an s, means to plan: devise a plan.
Similarappliance, gadget, instrument, apparatus, tool
- 2A piece of computer hardware, like a printer, mouse, or hard drive.
Like adding a new tool to a toolbox: the computer can use it once it is plugged in.
You can plug the new device into any USB port.
The computer found three devices connected to it.
UsageOften after another word: storage device, input device.
Similarperipheral
Note
- 3A method a writer or speaker uses to create a particular effect on readers or listeners.
Like a chef adding spice to make food taste stronger.
Repeating a word is a simple device that makes a speech more powerful.
Writers use devices like suspense to keep readers turning pages.
UsageUsually literary device or plot device.
Similartechnique
Note
- 4A bomb, especially a home-made one put together from whatever materials are available.
Like a trap made from spare parts instead of being bought ready-made.
Soldiers found a hidden device beside the road.
The bomb squad safely removed two devices from the building.
UsageIn the news, often an explosive device or a suspect device.
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Less common meanings
- 5A clever plan or trick, often made to fool someone.
Like a hidden trick in a game that helps you win.
The fake phone call was just a device to get him out of the room.
He used all sorts of devices to avoid paying.
UsageOften a device to do something: a device to get him out of the room.
Similarploy, ruse, trick, scheme, stratagem
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- 6A picture, sign, or motto that is one person's own mark, or a picture used as a company's logo.
The knight wore his own device on his shield.
Every book from that printer has his device, a small anchor, on the first page.
Note
- 7The power to invent or think up clever plans.
And she said, "We are all prisoners here, Of our own device"
1976, The Eagles, Hotel CaliforniaHere, device means our own inventiveness, the plans we thought up ourselves.Moreover I must have instruments of mine own device, weighty, and exceeding costly
1824, Walter Savage Landor, “King Henry IV and Sir Arnold Savage”Note
- 8A show or grand display put on for people to watch.
Note
- 9What someone has decided or thinks about a matter.
Note
- 10A type of wordplay trick used in a cryptic crossword clue.
Practice
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Origin
It comes from an Old French word, which came from Latin "dividere," meaning "to divide."
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Device comes from Old French, through Middle English. en.wiktionary.org
- The Old French word ultimately derives from Latin dividere. en.wiktionary.org
- Latin dividere means “to divide.” en.wiktionary.org