technology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek τεχνολογία (tekhnología, “systematic treatment (of grammar)”), from τέχνη (tékhnē, “art”) + -λογία (-logía, “study”). Synchronically analysable as techno- +‎ -logy.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɛkˈnɒləd͡ʒi/

• Audio (RP)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /tɛkˈnɑləd͡ʒi/
• Rhymes: -ɒləd͡ʒi

technology (countable and uncountable, plural technologies)

1. (uncountable) The study of or a collection of techniques.
   • 2013 June 21, Chico Harlan, “Japan pockets the subsidy …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 30:

     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. All the different and usable technologies developed by a culture or people.
3. (countable) Any useful skill or mechanism that was developed or invented.
   • 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, page 317:

     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.

4. (archaic) A discourse or treatise on the arts.

• Adjectives often applied to "technology": assistive, automotive, biological, chemical, domestic, educational, environmental, geospatial, industrial, instructional, medical, microbial, military, nuclear, visual, advanced, sophisticated, high, modern, outdated, obsolete, simple, complex, medieval, ancient, safe, secure, effective, efficient, mechanical, electrical, electronic, emerging, alternative, appropriate, clean, disruptive.
• In some milieus and contexts, the word "technology" is understood to be limited to digital communications and computing technology, e.g. "technology companies were overvalued during the dotcom bubble."

• → Japanese: テクノロジー (tekunorojī)

• technology at OneLook Dictionary Search
• technology in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "technology" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 315.
• technology in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• technology in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• technology, technique, art, method, machinery, machines, devices at Google Ngram Viewer
• technological, technical at Google Ngram Viewer