MECHANISM

n. 1 device, appliance, contrivance, apparatus, instrument, machine This mechanism will detonate the bomb at the right moment 2 machinery, workings, works, structure, system, organization, arrangement Astrophysicists can offer only an imperfect account of the mechanism of the universe 3 way, means, method, procedure, approach, technique, medium, process, agency We shall use every mechanism at our disposal to have the case heard by a different judge 4 materialism, mechanicalism, physicalism, logical positivism, identity theory, monism His notions of mechanism reject the idea of free-thinking individualism