automate

automate — verb

1. to set up a job, step, or system so that machines or computer programs carry it

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to set up a job, step, or system so that machines or computer programs carry it out on their own, with little or no need for a human worker.

Example

The Toyota factory has automated most of the welding work on the car frames.

automate + noun (factory process)

Ines wrote a small script to automate her weekly sales report.

automate + noun (routine office task)

Common collocations
  • automate a process
  • automate a task
  • fully automate
  • automate production
Synonyms
  • mechanize

    stresses replacing manual labour with machinery, often heavy industrial equipment

  • computerize

    narrower — specifically using computers to handle records or tasks

  • streamline

    broader — simplify a process, not necessarily by handing it to machines

Antonyms
  • manual

    adjective form; describes work still done by hand rather than by machine

Grammar Patterns

automate + noun (process/task/system)

Usage Note

Object is almost always a process, task, system, or job — not a person. Frequently appears in the passive when the focus is on which work has been taken over by machines.

Common Mistakes

The factory automated 200 workers.
The factory automated the packing line and let go of 200 workers.
you automate the work, not the people doing it.
I want to automate to send emails every Monday.
I want to automate sending emails every Monday.
use a noun or -ing form after 'automate', not a to-infinitive.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words describe ways of changing how work gets done, but they emphasise different things. 'Automate' is the broadest modern term: a process runs by itself, usually thanks to software, robots, or sensors, with very little human input needed. 'Mechanize' is older and narrower; it suggests bringing in physical machines to replace muscle work, the way tractors mechanized farming. 'Computerize' specifically means moving records or tasks onto computers, often without removing the human operator. 'Streamline' is about cutting steps and waste so a process flows more smoothly, and it does not have to involve any machine at all. So a hospital might computerize its files, mechanize its laundry, automate its appointment reminders, and streamline its check-in form all in the same year.

automate ↗mechanizecomputerizestreamline

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • automate a process
  • fully automate the workflow
  • automate repetitive tasks

Prepositions

  • with (machines/software)
  • through (technology)

Etymology

GreekLatinEnglish

A 20th-century back-formation from 'automation', which itself was coined in 1948 inside the Ford Motor Company to describe car-making lines that ran with little human help. 'Automation' was built from Greek 'autos' (self) plus the ending of words like 'operation', and once the noun was in everyday use, English speakers shortened it into the verb 'automate' by the early 1950s.