a system of parts working together in a machine; a piece of machinery 机械装置,机器 the gunner injured his arm in the turret mechanism. 炮手在炮塔机械装置中伤了手臂。
a natural or established process by which something takes place or is brought about 机制;机理 we have no mechanism for assessing the success of forwarded enquiries. 我们没有机制来评估转递查询的成功与否。 the mechanism by which genes build bodies. 基因构成身体的机理。 ■a contrivance in the plot of a literary work (文学作品情节的)手法;技巧 Irma La Douce is a musical based on the farce mechanism. 《爱玛姑娘》是一部基于笑剧手法的音乐剧。
[mass noun](Philosophy)the doctrine that all natural phenomena, including life and thought, allow mechanical explanation by physics and chemistry (哲)机械论
语源
mid 17th cent.: from modern Latin mechanismus, from Greek mēkhanē (see machine)