{
  "id": "tools.tool",
  "term": "tools",
  "sense": "tool",
  "pos": "noun",
  "status": "review",
  "level": 7,
  "arena": "tools",
  "domain": "everyday",
  "style": null,
  "definition": "a device that helps a person do work",
  "folk_gloss": null,
  "emergence": {
    "components": [
      "material.physical",
      "structure.arrangement",
      "device.tool",
      "help.assistance",
      "people.social",
      "work.effort"
    ],
    "interaction": "the material is arranged in a pattern that can be used to move other matter",
    "novel_properties": [
      "purposeful function",
      "amplified effort",
      "directed change"
    ]
  },
  "examples": [
    {
      "text": "The Hubble Space Telescope's corrective optics were installed during Service Mission 3A in 2002 to fix blurred vision caused by a flawed mirror.",
      "domain": "engineering"
    },
    {
      "text": "A baker uses a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment to knead bread for 10 minutes, reducing hand effort by 90%.",
      "domain": "everyday life"
    },
    {
      "text": "The Antikythera mechanism, dated to 100 BCE, used geared dials to predict eclipses and planetary positions.",
      "domain": "history"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "id": "device.tool",
      "note": "is-a",
      "type": "is-a"
    },
    {
      "id": "work.effort",
      "note": "enables",
      "type": "enables"
    }
  ],
  "used_by": [
    "applying.action",
    "golf.sport",
    "means.method"
  ],
  "forms": [
    "tool",
    "tools"
  ],
  "closed": true,
  "provenance": {
    "author": "openrouter:openai/gpt-oss-120b",
    "date": "2026-07-29",
    "confidence": 0.6,
    "reconciled": {
      "by": "openrouter:qwen/qwen3-235b-a22b-2507",
      "date": "2026-07-31",
      "changed": "components",
      "note": "Added missing constitutive concepts from definition: device.tool, help.assistance, people.social, work.effort. Definition remained correct as-is."
    }
  },
  "canonical": "https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tools.tool"
}