The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - mechanism n.

1) device, appliance, contrivance, apparatus, instrument, machine: This mechanism will detonate the bomb at the right moment. 2) machinery, workings, works, structure, system, organization, arrangement: Astrophysicists can offer only an imperfect account of the mechanism of the universe. 3) way, means, method, procedure, approach, technique, medium, process, agency: We shall use every mechanism at our disposal to have the case heard by a different judge. 4) materialism, mechanicalism, physicalism, logical positivism, identity theory, monism: His notions of mechanism reject the idea of free-thinking individualism.