To mechanize means to replace human or animal labor with machines. When farmers mechanized their work in the early 1900s, they stopped plowing fields with horses and started using tractors. When a factory mechanizes its assembly line, robots and automated equipment do tasks that workers once did by hand.

Mechanization transforms how work gets done. Before mechanization, harvesting wheat meant dozens of people swinging scythes under the hot sun for days. After mechanization, one person operating a combine harvester could do the same work in hours. A mechanized car wash uses spinning brushes and automatic soap dispensers instead of people with buckets and sponges.

The word comes from mechanism, meaning a system of moving parts that work together. When something becomes mechanized, it becomes more like a machine: faster, more consistent, and able to handle bigger jobs. A school might mechanize taking attendance by using electronic card scanners instead of teachers calling out names. A restaurant might mechanize dishwashing with an industrial dishwasher instead of washing each plate by hand.

Mechanization has made many difficult jobs easier and faster, though it also means machines sometimes replace human workers. The related adjective is mechanized, as in “mechanized farming” or “mechanized warfare,” which refers to armies using tanks and vehicles instead of soldiers on foot.