autonomously

[ aw-ton-uh-muhs-lee ]

adverb

1. in a way that is self-governing or free of outside control; independently:

   The ideal candidate will be able to work autonomously and without supervision.

2. with little or no human control or intervention:

   We have developed a service robot that operates autonomously, in concert with a network of devices in its environment.

3. Biology.
   1. as an independent organism:

      Viruses, on the boundary between living and nonliving, cannot autonomously reproduce but require the biochemistry and structure of a host cell.

   2. naturally or spontaneously, without cultivation:

      They organized a work day to get rid of the plants growing wildly, autonomously, and unwantedly all around the building.

Other Words From

• non·au·ton·o·mous·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of autonomously¹

autonomous ( def ) + -ly

Example Sentences

On Monday, the Dragon docked itself autonomously with the station, while it orbited Earth at 17,500 mph, and the astronauts sat by, monitoring the spacecraft but staying off the controls.

From Washington Post

Being able to autonomously fly for hours on end to survey forest fires or even oil pipelines, any kind of long flight ability – that really does sound like the future to me.

From MIT Technology Review

They’ll have to do it autonomously because communications with Earth will take years to bounce back and forth.

From Nautilus

The software enables Tesla vehicles to autonomously navigate the vast majority of common roadway situations and complete many trips from start to finish.

From Ars Technica

The problem forced the engines to start prematurely, but the rocket’s computers detected the problem and forced the shutdown autonomously.

From Washington Post

The two groups operate semi-autonomously but both fall under the leadership of the Quetta Shura leadership council.

From The Daily Beast

SGR-A1 scans autonomously, and once it detects suspected intruders alerts the operator.

From The Daily Beast

The aim should be to provide the conditions under which a Palestinian state can function autonomously.

From The Daily Beast

Related Words

• freely
• individually
• separately