machinery

noun

muh-SHEE-nuh-ree/məˈʃiːnəɹi/

4 meanings of machinery

1
noununcountable
The machines that together make up the production equipment of a factory or plant.
The plant's heavy machinery runs around the clock during peak season.
Installing the new machinery took the assembly line offline for a week.
Similarequipment, plant, apparatus, gear, hardware
2
noununcountable
The combined parts or processes that allow a system or organization to function.
The vast machinery of the federal government rarely moves quickly.
Behind every election lies the complex machinery of campaign organizing.
Similarapparatus, mechanism, system, workings, structure
3
noununcountable
The working parts of a single machine, considered together as a group.
A loose screw had jammed the printer's delicate machinery.
Engineers stripped down the engine to inspect its internal machinery.
Similarmechanism, workings, works, innards
4
nounfigurativelyuncountable
The literary devices employed in a work, especially those producing dramatic effect.
The poem's supernatural machinery (gods, spirits, and prophecy) drives its grandest scenes.
Critics admired the subtle machinery the novelist used to build suspense.
Similardevices, apparatus, mechanics

Practice

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Origin

Formed from "machine" plus the suffix "-ery," comparable to French "machinerie."