different between mechanism vs gadget

English

Etymology

From Latin mechanismus, from Greek ?????? (m?khan?, “machine”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?k?n?zm/

Noun

mechanism (countable and uncountable, plural mechanisms)

1. (within a machine or machinery) Any mechanical means for the conversion or control of motion, or the transmission or control of power.
2. Any combination of cams, gears, links, belts, chains and logical mechanical elements.
3. A group of entities, such as objects, that interact together.

4. A mental, physical, or chemical process.
5. Any process of, or system designed to manage useful energy conversion.
6. (philosophy) The theory that all natural phenomena can be explained by physical causes.

Derived terms

• defense mechanism, defence mechanism
• reaction mechanism

Translations

English

Etymology

Unknown. First used in print by Robert Brown in 1886 (see quote in definition section). Might come from French gâchette or gagée. Compare Finnish koje (“instrument, device”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?æd??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?æd??t/
• Rhymes: -æd??t
• Hyphenation: gad?get

Noun

gadget (plural gadgets)

1. (obsolete) A thing whose name cannot be remembered; thingamajig, doohickey.
   • 1886, Robert Brown, Spunyard and Spindrift, A Sailor Boy's Log of a Voyage Out and Home in a China Tea-clipper:

     Then the names of all the other things on board a ship! I don't know half of them yet; even the sailors forget at times, and if the exact name of anything they want happens to slip from their memory, they call it a chicken-fixing, or a gadjet, or a timmey-noggy, or a wim-wom—just pro tem., you know.

2. Any device or machine, especially one whose name cannot be recalled. Often either clever or complicated.

3. (informal) Any consumer electronics product.
4. (computing) A sequence of machine code instructions crafted as part of an exploit that attempts to divert execution to a memory location chosen by the attacker.
   • Security > Red Hat > CVE Database > CVE-2019-1125

     A Spectre gadget was found in the Linux kernel's implementation of system interrupts.

Synonyms

• contraption
• contrivance
• doohickey
• gizmo
• widget

Alternative forms

• gadjet

Derived terms

• gadgetbahn
• gadgety

Translations

Further reading

• gadget on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• dagget, tagged

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English gadget.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a.d??t/

Noun

gadget m (plural gadgets)

1. gadget

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English gadget.

Noun

gadget m (invariable)

1. gadget (small device)

Romanian

Etymology

From English gadget.

Noun

gadget n (plural gadgeturi)

1. gadget

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English gadget.

Noun

gadget m (plural gadgets)

1. gadget