Apparatus

/ˌæp.əˈɹeɪ.təs/ · noun

Meaning

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

Definitions by Sense

1. The entirety of means whereby a specific production is made existent or task accomplished.
2. A complex machine or instrument.
3. (collective) An assortment of tools and instruments.
4. A bureaucratic organization, especially one influenced by political patronage.
5. (firefighting) A vehicle used for emergency response.
6. (gymnastics) Any of the equipment on which the gymnasts perform their movements.
7. (rhythmic gymnastics) Any of the objects that the gymnasts wield while performing and used as part of the performance itself.
8. (video games) A complex, highly modified weapon (typically not a firearm); a weaponized “Rube Goldberg machine.”

Example Sentences

These television stations are part of the apparatus and power of Milosevic. This is the apparatus he has used to do the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. It is the apparatus that keeps him in power and we are entirely justified as Nato allies in damaging and taking on those targets.

Among the many good points Thomas Piketty makes in Capital in the Twenty First Century – his world-changing but surprisingly mild book – is that extreme inequality can be sustained politically only through an “apparatus of justification”.

Many jihadist plots have been foiled and the security apparatus is getting better, overall, at pre-empting those who would do us ill. But, they say, the nature of the threat and the terrorists’ increasing use of low-tech, asymmetrical tactics such as hire vehicles and knives, make it all but impossible to stop every assault.

It describes a “coordinated effort by the CCP’s propaganda apparatus … to discredit the BBC, distract international attention and recapture control of the narrative,” mostly outside Chinese borders.

“I have met my young photographer,” said De Stancy, cheerily. “What a small world it is, as every busybody truly observes! I am wishing he could take some views for us as we go on; but you have no apparatus with you, I suppose, Mr. Dare?”

An apparatus for exploring the atmosphere of a planet such as Venus, at a specific altitude, was patented this week for a French agency, the Office Nationale d'Etudes et de Recherche Aerospatiales.

We immediately threw out all the little things we had with us, ſuch as biſcuits, apples, &c. and after that one of our oars or wings; but ſtill deſcending, we caſt away the other wing, and then the governail ; having likewiſe had the precaution, for fear of accidents, while the Balloon was filling, partly to looſen and make it go eaſy, I now ſucceeded in attempting to reach without the Car, and unſcrewing the moulinet, with all its apparatus; I likewiſe caſt that into the ſea.

In English fiction—that is to say British fiction in the English language tradition—it is a subtle question because we dislike thinking abstractly and conceptualisation of government, where it exists, is vague and confused. Take bishops: they sat as legislators and so were part of the governing apparatus.

Synonyms for apparatus

Antonyms for apparatus

Related Words

Word Forms

• apparatuses
• apparatusses
• apparatus
• apparatûs
• apparatūs
• apparati

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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