From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishautomatonau‧tom‧a‧ton /ɔːˈtɒmətən $ ɒːˈtɑː-/ noun (plural automata /-tə/ or automatons) [countable] 1 MACHINEa machine, especially one in the shape of a human, that moves without anyone controlling it SYN robot2 EMOTIONALsomeone who seems unable to feel emotions or to think about what they are doing
Examples from the Corpus
automaton• I was what the materialists declared a human to be, an automaton.• Rising slowly like an automaton, she made her way over to the counter and picked up the receiver.• Servants were not allowed to have eyes that were alive, that spoke of a person and not an automaton.• It was the mechanical accuracy of an automaton.• As though I did not exist; as though it were an automaton who cleared brambles and counted magpies.• He took my hand and led me away from the automaton.• The automaton no longer looked so innocent.Origin automaton (1600-1700) Latin Greek, from automatos; → AUTOMATIC1 