as in tendency
a habitual attraction to some activity or thing
left to her own devices she'd eat at a fast-food restaurant every night of the week
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of devices
Sometimes the batteries on the trackers would run low, and McGovern’s team would need to remove and recharge the devices, before surreptitiously replacing them.
—
Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2026
In 2021, a critical vulnerability in Log4j—a logging library maintained by a handful of volunteers—exposed hundreds of millions of devices.
—Evan Johnson, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2026
New York parents are asking for ChatGPT limits in schools, while Utah last month passed a law to let parents monitor their kids’ screen time on school devices.
—Joel Mathis, TheWeek, 30 Apr. 2026
More recent reports suggest that Apple teams once dedicated to the headset are now moving away from it to focus on other devices.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 30 Apr. 2026
Other options, such as red light therapy caps, are non-invasive devices that use low-level light therapy to stimulate hair follicles and increase density.
—Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 30 Apr. 2026
At one point, the FIFA stream for those watching remotely appeared to freeze, including for multiple reporters from The Athletic watching on different devices in different parts of the world.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2026
The borough is seeing more incidents locally involving those devices – including those leading to crashes and injuries, the post said.
—Chilekasi Adele, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
Publicly released exploit code for an effectively unpatched vulnerability that gives root access to virtually all releases of Linux is setting off alarm bells as defenders scramble to ward off severe compromises inside data centers and on personal devices.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
Ed Caesar, New Yorker, 30 Apr. 2026
In 2021, a critical vulnerability in Log4j—a logging library maintained by a handful of volunteers—exposed hundreds of millions of devices.
—Evan Johnson, IEEE Spectrum, 30 Apr. 2026
New York parents are asking for ChatGPT limits in schools, while Utah last month passed a law to let parents monitor their kids’ screen time on school devices.
—Joel Mathis, TheWeek, 30 Apr. 2026
More recent reports suggest that Apple teams once dedicated to the headset are now moving away from it to focus on other devices.
—Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 30 Apr. 2026
Other options, such as red light therapy caps, are non-invasive devices that use low-level light therapy to stimulate hair follicles and increase density.
—Tribune News Service, Baltimore Sun, 30 Apr. 2026
At one point, the FIFA stream for those watching remotely appeared to freeze, including for multiple reporters from The Athletic watching on different devices in different parts of the world.
—Joshua Kloke, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2026
The borough is seeing more incidents locally involving those devices – including those leading to crashes and injuries, the post said.
—Chilekasi Adele, CBS News, 30 Apr. 2026
Publicly released exploit code for an effectively unpatched vulnerability that gives root access to virtually all releases of Linux is setting off alarm bells as defenders scramble to ward off severe compromises inside data centers and on personal devices.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 30 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for devices
Noun
-
Kormákur is an Icelandic filmmaker whose breakout was the 2006 crime drama Jar City and who has a tendency to bounce around both genres and continents.—
Alison Willmore,
Vulture,
24 Apr. 2026
-
In 2024, Julie Aitken Schermer, a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, published a paper that showed drivers who modified their exhaust systems to be louder were more likely to have psychopathic and sadist tendencies.—
Harrison Mantas,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Few Democrats in the party's 2028 presidential sights have an opportunity to demonstrate political strength and party-building aptitude in swing states.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
25 Apr. 2026
-
So does discipline, defensive aptitude and goaltending.—
Josh Yohe,
New York Times,
24 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The inclination is not to pay, according to Alisha Rayner, the city’s director of operations and communications.—
Mark Pazniokas,
Hartford Courant,
30 Apr. 2026
-
The 11 satellites on board are flying to a mid-inclination orbit.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
29 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
His early work with the Heartbreakers had an affinity with the more cutting-edge sounds of punk and new wave; the term pop punk probably comes from the New York Times critic John Rockwell’s write-up of a Petty performance at the Bottom Line in 1977.—
Jack Hamilton,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
-
When Tezzus met diamond* in 2020, their affinity for music (and weed) kept them close, moving together as a unit.—
Oba Awolowo,
Pitchfork,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Her growing respect and affection for Valerie has been one of the season’s bright spots, particularly with Mickey gone.—
Louis Peitzman,
Vulture,
27 Apr. 2026
-
Aronofsky professed his deep affection for Mexico, calling it his favorite destination.—
Anna Marie de la Fuente,
Variety,
26 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
The situation stems from the commendable liberal impulse to devote extensive resources to public education.—
Marc Novicoff,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Because at its core, this legal drama that revolves around artificial intelligence is actually rooted in the very human impulses of kinship, greed, betrayal, and power.—
Tom Dotan,
Vanity Fair,
27 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Burke has rare size at nearly 6-foot-9, and a nasty disposition to match.—
Luca Evans,
Denver Post,
24 Apr. 2026
-
The survey presented over 1,500 American adults in a nationally representative sample with the definitions of six legal methods of disposition in a random order.—
Tanya D. Marsh,
The Conversation,
24 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Devices.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/devices. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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