mechanisticallyadv.
/ˌmɛkəˈnɪstᵻkli/, /ˌmɛknˈɪstᵻkli/, U.S. /ˌmɛkəˈnɪstᵻk(ə)li/ In a mechanistic manner; on mechanistic principles.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > psychology > mental action or process > [adverb] > mechanistically
mechanistically1909
1909 Philos. Rev. 18 438 The processes which were discussed..can be regarded either mechanistically..or ‘energetically’.
1923 W. McDougall Outl. Psychol. vi. 189 One attempt to explain mechanistically this fundamental type of profiting by experience has been widely accepted.
1925 C. D. Broad Mind & its Place ii. 77 The attempts which have been made..to treat mental phenomena mechanistically.
1935 Mind 44 88 If you show that mental activity has independent causal powers, and that it works purposively and not mechanistically, surely [etc.].
1947 J. C. Rich Materials & Methods Sculpt. xi. 350 Metal negative molds..are used commercially for mechanistically manufacturing papier mâché reproductions in large quantities.
1961 Notes & Queries June 237/2 Mr. White's method is usually to utter a few simple principles about the art of fiction..and then test them rather mechanistically against his author's four novels.
1989 Nature 20 July 205/1 It seems that DNA transfer from A. tumefaciens to plants is mechanistically similar to bacterial conjugation.
1994 Daily Tel. 19 May 16/1 The agency was operating too mechanistically.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adv.1909