Machine vs. Tool — What's the Difference?

A device that performs tasks using power.

An implement used in manual work.

A system or organization that operates like a mechanical device.

Anything used as a means of accomplishing a task or purpose.

A robot or other automatic device.

An instrument used in a profession.

A machine is any physical system with ordered structural and functional properties. It may represent human-made or naturally occurring device molecular machine that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action.

An individual used or manipulated by another.

A device consisting of fixed and moving parts that redirects mechanical energy to accomplish a particular task or set of tasks.

A tool is an object that can extend an individual's ability to modify features of the surrounding environment. Although many animals use simple tools, only human beings, whose use of stone tools dates back hundreds of millennia, have been observed using tools to make other tools.

See simple machine.

A device or implement, especially one held in the hand, used to carry out a particular function

See compound machine.

A distinct design in the tooling of a book.

A system or device for doing work, as an automobile or jackhammer, together with its power source and auxiliary equipment.

A man's penis.

A system or device, such as a computer, that performs or assists in the performance of a human task

Impress a design on (leather, especially a leather book cover)

An intricate natural system or organism, such as the human body.

Equip or be equipped with tools for industrial production

A person who acts in a rigid, mechanical, or unconscious manner.

Drive or ride in a casual or leisurely manner

An organized group of people whose members are or appear to be under the control of one or more leaders

Dress (stone) with a chisel.

A device used to produce a stage effect, especially a mechanical means of lowering an actor onto the stage.

A device, such as a saw, shovel, or drill, used to perform or facilitate manual or mechanical work.

A literary device used to produce an effect, especially the introduction of a supernatural being to resolve a plot.

A machine, such as a lathe, used to cut and shape machine parts or other objects.

An answering machine

The cutting part of such a machine.

Of, relating to, or felt to resemble a machine

Something regarded as necessary to the carrying out of one's occupation or profession

To cut, shape, or finish by machine.

Something used in the performance of an operation; an instrument

To be cut, shaped, or finished by machine

Vulgar Slang The penis.

A device that directs and controls energy, often in the form of movement or electricity, to produce a certain effect.

A person used to carry out the designs of another; a dupe.

(dated) A vehicle operated mechanically, such as an automobile or an airplane.

A bookbinder's hand stamp.

An answering machine or, by extension, voice mail.

A design impressed on a book cover by such a stamp.

(computing) A computer.

(Computers) A utility program.

(figuratively) A person or organisation that seemingly acts like a machine, being particularly efficient, single-minded, or unemotional.

To form, work, or decorate with a tool.

Especially, the group that controls a political or similar organization; a combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use.

To ornament (a book cover) with a bookbinder's tool.

(poetry) Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.

(Slang) To drive (a vehicle)

The system of special interest groups that supports a political party, especially in urban areas.

To work with a tool.

Penis.

(Slang) To drive or ride in a vehicle

(historical) A contrivance in the Ancient Greek theatre for indicating a change of scene, by means of which a god might cross the stage or deliver a divine message; the deus ex machina.

A mechanical device intended to make a task easier.

(obsolete) A bathing machine.

Any piece of equipment used in a profession, e.g. a craftman's tools.

To make by machinery.

Something to perform an operation; an instrument; a means.

To shape or finish by machinery; (usually, more specifically) to shape subtractively by metal-cutting with machine-controlled toolpaths.

(computing) A piece of software used to develop software or hardware, or to perform low-level operations.

In general, any combination of bodies so connected that their relative motions are constrained, and by means of which force and motion may be transmitted and modified, as a screw and its nut, or a lever arranged to turn about a fulcrum or a pulley about its pivot, etc.; especially, a construction, more or less complex, consisting of a combination of moving parts, or simple mechanical elements, as wheels, levers, cams, etc., with their supports and connecting framework, calculated to constitute a prime mover, or to receive force and motion from a prime mover or from another machine, and transmit, modify, and apply them to the production of some desired mechanical effect or work, as weaving by a loom, or the excitation of electricity by an electrical machine.

A person or group which is used or controlled, usually unwittingly, by another person or group.

Any mechanical contrivance, as the wooden horse with which the Greeks entered Troy; a coach; a bicycle.

An obnoxious or uptight person.

A person who acts mechanically or at the will of another.

A penis, notably with a sexual or erotic connotation.

A combination of persons acting together for a common purpose, with the agencies which they use; as, the social machine.

A gun.

A political organization arranged and controlled by one or more leaders for selfish, private or partisan ends; the Tammany machine.

(transitive) To work on or shape with tools, e.g., hand-tooled leather.

Supernatural agency in a poem, or a superhuman being introduced to perform some exploit.

(transitive) To equip with tools.

To subject to the action of machinery; to make, cut, shape, or modify with a machine; to effect by aid of machinery; to print with a printing machine.

(intransitive) To work very hard.

Any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of human tasks

To put down another person (possibly in a subtle, hidden way), and in that way to use him or her to meet a goal.

An intricate organization that accomplishes its goals efficiently;

To intentionally attack the ball so that it deflects off a blocker out of bounds.

An efficient person;

To drive (a coach or other vehicle).

4-wheeled motor vehicle; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine;

To carry or convey in a coach or other vehicle.

A group that controls the activities of a political party;

To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.

A device for overcoming resistance at one point by applying force at some other point

An instrument such as a hammer, saw, plane, file, and the like, used in the manual arts, to facilitate mechanical operations; any instrument used by a craftsman or laborer at his work; an implement; as, the tools of a joiner, smith, shoe-maker, etc.; also, a cutter, chisel, or other part of an instrument or machine that dresses work.

Turn, shape, mold, or otherwise finish by machinery

A machine for cutting or shaping materials; - also called machine tool.

Make by machinery;

Hence, any instrument of use or service.

An apparatus using mechanical power and having several parts.

A weapon.

A vehicle with an engine.

A person used as an instrument by another person; - a word of reproach; as, men of intrigue have their tools, by whose agency they accomplish their purposes.

To shape, form, or finish with a tool.

To drive, as a coach.

To travel in a vehicle; to ride or drive.

An implement used in the practice of a vocation

The means whereby some act is accomplished;

A person who is controlled by others and is used to perform unpleasant or dishonest tasks for someone else

Obscene terms for penis

Drive;

Ride in a car with no particular goal and just for the pleasure of it;

Furnish with tools

Work with a tool

A handheld device that aids in accomplishing a task.

Yes, computers are complex machines designed for data processing.

No, some machines operate on mechanical, hydraulic, or other forms of power.

A machine is any device that uses energy to perform a task, often with moving parts.

The key difference is complexity and the source of power; machines are more complex and often energy-powered, while tools are simpler and manually operated.

Tools can be used for the maintenance and repair of machines.

It can be both; a hand drill is a tool, while a power drill is a machine.

Yes, 'tool' can metaphorically describe anything used to achieve a goal.

No, machines and tools often complement each other in various tasks.

No, tools are used in many fields, including art, cooking, and surgery.

Not all; some machines require manual operation or control.

Yes, tools can be integrated into machines as components.

A smartphone is considered a machine due to its complex functions and power use.

Yes, by adding a power source and moving parts, a tool could become a machine.

They are essential for production, efficiency, and precision in various industries.

Yes, the effective use of tools typically requires manual skill.