bot
UK: bɒt | US: bɑːt
n. 1. A software application that performs automated tasks, often repetitively or at scale.
n. 2. Short for "robot," referring to an autonomous mechanical device.
n. 3. (Internet slang) An automated account simulating human behavior online.
The word "bot" is a clipped form of "robot," which itself derives from the Czech word robota ("forced labor"). The term "robot" was popularized by Karel Čapek's 1920 play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). Over time, "bot" emerged as a colloquial abbreviation, particularly in computing contexts, to denote automated programs or scripts. The truncation reflects linguistic efficiency in tech jargon.
The website uses a bot to crawl and index new content.
She programmed a bot to automatically reply to customer inquiries.
Many social media platforms struggle to detect spam bots.
The chatbot simulated human conversation convincingly.
Gaming forums often ban accounts suspected of being bots.