technology — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The combined application of science and art in practical ways in industry, as for example in designing new machines.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   Meronyms: (contextually meronymous) art, applied science, industrial arts

   Humankind relies on technology to keep average standard of living higher than it would otherwise be.

   More examples (2)

   Nearly everyone believes, falsely, that technology is applied science […] Technology is more closely related to art than to science—not only materially, because art must somehow involve the selection and manipulation of matter, but conceptually as well, because the technologist, like the artist, must work with many unanalyzable complexities. Another popular misunderstanding today is the belief that technology is inherently ugly and unpleasant, whereas a moment's reflection will show that technology underlies innumerable delightful experiences as well as the greatest art, whether expressed in object, word, sound or environment.

   Across Japan, technology companies and private investors are racing to install devices that until recently they had little interest in: solar panels. Massive solar parks are popping up as part of a rapid build-up that one developer likened to an "explosion."

2. Machines or equipment thus designed.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Uncountable

   Examples

   We went to the trade show to see the latest technology on display.

3. Any useful skill or mechanism that humans have developed or invented (including in prescientific eras).

   Usage

   • Countable

   Examples

   the incipient metalworking technology of the Bronze Age

   More examples (1)

   Although it can read data quickly, it is very slow at storing it. That has led the industry on a frantic hunt for alternative storage technologies that might unseat flash. Mr. Parkin’s new approach, referred to as “racetrack memory,” could outpace both solid-state flash memory chips as well as computer hard disks, making it a technology that could transform not only the storage business but the entire computing industry. […] Since the tiny magnetic domains have to travel only submolecular distances, it is possible to read and write magnetic regions with different polarization as quickly as a single nanosecond — far faster than existing storage technologies.

4. Any useful trait that has evolved in any organism.

   Usage

   • Countable
   • Figurative

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Comb jellies lack the most impressive 'technology' of jellyfish - the nematocyst stinging apparatus which is one of the most deadly weapons and fastest cellular processes in nature.

5. The study of or a collection of techniques.

   Usage

   • Literary
   • Uncountable

6. A discourse or treatise on the arts.

   Usage

   • Archaic
   • Countable
   • Uncountable

Noun

1. the application of the knowledge and usage of tools (such as machines or utensils) and techniques to control one's environment

   Broader terms

   applicationpractical application

   Examples

   the mastery of fire was a huge advance in human technology

2. the discipline dealing with the art or science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems

   Synonyms

   engineeringengineering scienceapplied science

   Broader terms

   disciplinesubjectsubject areasubject fieldfieldfield of studystudybailiwick

   Examples

   he had trouble deciding which branch of engineering to study

3. machinery and equipment developed from engineering or other applied sciences

   Broader terms

   machineryequipment