Glossary
Machinery Maintenance Worker Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential machinery maintenance worker terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key machinery maintenance worker vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in machinery maintenance worker training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Bearing
- Supports rotating shafts.
- Belt tension
- Tightness of a belt.
- Breather
- Filters air entering tanks.
- CMMS
- Maintenance software.
- Contamination
- Dirt in oil.
- Grease fitting
- Point to add grease.
- Hydraulic filter
- Cleans hydraulic oil.
- Lockout/tagout
- Energy isolation.
- Lube route
- Planned lubrication rounds.
- Lubrication
- Applying oil or grease.
- Oil sample
- Oil tested for wear.
- Over-greasing
- Too much grease.
- PM
- Preventive maintenance.
- Sight glass
- Window showing oil level.
- Viscosity
- Oil thickness.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Machinery Maintenance Worker practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Machinery Maintenance Worker training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.