appliance

An appliance is a tool or device that performs a certain job. Your toaster is an appliance, and so is your dishwasher. Your dog? Not so much.

Most modern homes are full of appliances that perform various useful tasks — or help you perform them. A hairdryer is an appliance that dries your hair, and a television is an appliance that offers hours of mindless entertainment. The earliest meaning of the word was "action of putting into use," from the verb apply, with its Latin root, applicare, which figuratively means "devote oneself to" or "give attention."

Definitions of appliance
  1. noun
    a device or control that is very useful for a particular job
    synonyms: contraption, contrivance, convenience, gadget, gismo, gizmo, widget
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    types:
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    gadgetry
    appliances collectively
    gimbal
    an appliance that allows an object (such as a ship's compass) to remain horizontal even as its support tips
    injector
    a contrivance for injecting (e.g., water into the boiler of a steam engine or particles into an accelerator etc.)
    mod con
    modern convenience; the appliances and conveniences characteristic of a modern house
    type of:
    device
    an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose
  2. noun
    durable goods for home or office use
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    drier, dryer
    an appliance that removes moisture
    home appliance, household appliance
    an appliance that does a particular job in the home
    clothes drier, clothes dryer
    a dryer that dries clothes wet from washing
    curling iron
    a cylindrical metal home appliance that heats a lock of hair that has been curled around it
    blow drier, blow dryer, hair drier, hair dryer, hand blower
    a hand-held electric blower that can blow warm air onto the hair; used for styling hair
    iron, smoothing iron
    home appliance consisting of a flat metal base that is heated and used to smooth cloth
    kitchen appliance
    a home appliance used in preparing food
    sewing machine
    a textile machine used as a home appliance for sewing
    pants presser, trouser press
    a home appliance in which trousers can be hung and the wrinkles pressed out
    vacuum, vacuum cleaner
    an electrical home appliance that cleans by suction
    white goods
    large electrical home appliances (refrigerators or washing machines etc.) that are typically finished in white enamel
    type of:
    consumer durables, durable goods, durables
    consumer goods that are not destroyed by use
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