Apparatus vs Device

[WeeWilly]

When they are used as approximate synonyms (if I might so word it, Tone) how do the words "apparatus" and "device" differ? For me the former suggests something of the "Rube Goldberg", whereas the latter, something more robust and "finished". So, I expect an "apparatus" to tend toward the ad hoc, the jury-rigged, the homemade or the temporary, possibly with loose ends not properly tucked in. A "device" carries some sense of well-engineered neat permanence.

So, is this just me, or do you see it similarly? I was long ago questioned about this by a German friend of mine, and it came up again only the other day.

[Dave Miller]

To me, a "device" is an individual piece of equipment (in one piece, even though it may be made up of a complex set of parts).
"Apparatus" is a lot of equipment all set up together.

So, the apparatus for distilling moonshine, for example, would contain separate devices for boiling up the starting fluid and for condensing the vapours.

[Sue M-V]

I'd expect an aparatus to have moving parts and be a bit more complex, whereas a device (although it can be the same) may also be a simple tool, like a tin-opener or a pencil-sharpener. That's if I'm being fussy - otherwise I think they are fairly interchangeable.

Sue

[WeeWilly]

You're both very much on my wavelength, then. Essentially "Apparatus" more complex (where you can see its multiple parts), and device "visibly" simpler. Otherwise fairly interchangeable terms. Thanks.

[Little Jack Horner]

I don't really think apparatus and device are useful synonyms. I certainly wouldn't use them interchageably. I agree with Dave and Sue. I also agree with WeeWilly in the sense that a piece of apparatus is more complex than a device but not that it is necessarily ad hoc or temporary. In particular, I associate the term apparatus with the science laboratory where more or less complicated systems are set up to perform chemical or physical processes. Often this might be experimental or for demonstration but I would also use the term for a permanent arrangement in a factory.

[Paul Doherty]

They don't seem interchangeable to me. In my work I might talk about, for example, "assigning a unique IP address to every device on the network". Device here means "any networkable thing" and would include (but is not limited to) a PC or Mac, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a router, a network printer, a smart TV, etc.

Apparatus wouldn't work there. The difference, to me, is exactly what Dave Miller said: a device is one thing whereas apparatus is a number of things connected together. Both devices and apparatus need to have a function (or purpose, or output), they are not simply artistic.

It's almost there in the grammar, isn't it? Device is a simple noun, but apparatus is a mass noun (or is it a collective noun?) -- one can have a device but must have some apparatus.

I don't think the difference is to do with complexity: a smartphone is surely more complex than a poteen still. Apparent complexity maybe; the smartphone is all contained in a simple-looking case, perhaps.

[Tone]

>I don't think the difference is to do with complexity: a smartphone is surely more complex than a poteen still. Apparent complexity maybe; the smartphone is all contained in a simple-looking case, perhaps. <

I'll go along with that.

Tone

[hubertus]

Device can also carry the meaning of 'a means to', as in, "It was a cynical device to gain entry to the property." [he asked if he could use the toilet].
I think device can have this meaning when used concretely or abstractly.

[Paul Doherty]

I suppose a device is something devised.