different between machinery vs apparatus

English

Etymology

From French machinerie (“machinery”), from machine (“machine”); see machine.

Pronunciation

• enPR: m?-sh?'n?-r?, IPA^(key): /m???i?n??i/
• Rhymes: -i?n??i

Noun

machinery (countable and uncountable, plural machineries)

1. The machines constituting a production apparatus, in a plant etc., collectively.
2. The working parts of a machine as a group.
3. The collective parts of something which allow it to function.

   All of the machinery of the law was brought to bear on the investigation.

4. (figuratively) The literary devices used in a work, notably for dramatic effect

Derived terms

• heavy machinery
• political machinery

Related terms

• machinist

Translations

Further reading

• machinery in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• machinery in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• hemicrany

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin appar?tus. Doublet of apparat.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US, General South African, India)
  • IPA^(key): /æ.p???e?.t?s/
  • Rhymes: -e?.t?s
• (US, Canada, Philippine)
  • IPA^(key): /æ.p???æ.t?s/
  • Rhymes: -æt?s
• (UK, General Australian, General New Zealand, General South African, Jamaica)
  • IPA^(key): /æp?????t?s/
  • Rhymes: -??t?s

Noun

apparatus (plural apparatuses or apparatusses or apparatus or (rare) apparatûs or (hypercorrect) apparati)

1. The entirety of means whereby a specific production is made existent or task accomplished.

   Synonyms: dynamic, mechanism, setup

2. A complex machine or instrument.

   Synonyms: device, instrument, machinery

3. An assortment of tools and instruments.

   Synonyms: tools, gear, equipment

4. A bureaucratic organization, especially one influenced by political patronage.

   Synonym: machine

5. (firefighting) A vehicle used for emergency response.
6. (gymnastics) Any of the equipment on which the gymnasts perform their movements.

   Hyponyms: parallel bars, uneven bars, vault, floor, pommel horse, rings aka still rings, horizontal bar aka high bar, balance beam

7. (video games) A complex, highly modified weapon (typically not a firearm); a weaponized “Rube Goldberg machine.”

   Hyponyms: windlass crossbow, compound bow, complex trap

Usage notes

The word is occasionally used as an invariant plural, as in look at all of those apparatus, maintaining the Latin inflection in English on a loanword basis. But because the word also has a mass noun sense in English and it often appears in such a way that its number (singular or plural) is disguised by absence of any inflectional or lexical signals as to which of these two senses pertained in the mind of the writer, readers may parse it in either sense. Thus in the phrase he was dazzled by the electronic apparatus scattered throughout the room, either parsing works, and the reader cannot tell which one the writer had in mind, although that slight ambiguity is unimportant to the point being made.

Related terms

• apparat

Derived terms

Translations

Latin

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of appar? (“prepare”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ap.pa?ra?.tus/, [äp?ä??ä?t??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ap.pa?ra.tus/, [?p??????t?us]

Participle

appar?tus (feminine appar?ta, neuter appar?tum, comparative appar?tior, superlative appar?tissimus); first/second-declension participle

1. prepared, ready, having been prepared
2. supplied, furnished, having been supplied
3. magnificent, sumptuous, elaborate

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Noun

appar?tus m (genitive appar?t?s); fourth declension

1. preparation, a getting ready
2. A providing
3. tools, implements, instruments, engines
4. supplies, material
5. magnificence, splendor, pomp
6. vocative singular of appar?tus

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

Descendants

Noun

appar?t?s m

1. genitive singular of appar?tus
2. nominative plural of appar?tus
3. accusative plural of appar?tus
4. vocative plural of appar?tus

References

• apparatus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• apparatus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• apparatus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• apparatus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book?^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
• apparatus in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[4], pre-publication website, 2005-2016