'anti-mechanistic' originates from modern English as a compound of the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-' meaning 'against') and the adjective 'mechanistic' (relating to 'mechanism').

'mechanistic' derives from 'mechanism' and 'mechanic', ultimately from Latin 'machina' and Greek 'mēkhanē' (μηχανή) meaning 'device, contrivance'; the adjectival form 'mechanistic' developed in English from earlier forms such as Middle French/Latin derivatives and was later combined with the productive prefix 'anti-' in modern philosophical and scientific discourse to form 'anti-mechanistic'.

Originally words in the family referred to machines or mechanical devices; over time 'mechanistic' came to mean explanatory approaches that reduce phenomena to mechanical causes, and 'anti-mechanistic' evolved to mean opposing such reductionist explanations.