autonomous

American  

[aw-ton-uh-muhs] / ɔˈtɒn ə məs /

adjective

1. Government.

   1. self-governing; independent; subject to its own laws only.

   2. pertaining to an autonomy, or a self-governing community.

2. having autonomy; not subject to control from outside; independent.

   a subsidiary that functioned as an autonomous unit.

3. (of a machine, device, etc.) able to operate with little or no human control or intervention.

   an autonomous vehicle.

4. Biology.

   1. existing and functioning as an independent organism.

   2. growing naturally or spontaneously, without cultivation.

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autonomous British  

/ ɔːˈtɒnəməs /

adjective

1. (of a community, country, etc) possessing a large degree of self-government

2. of or relating to an autonomous community

3. independent of others

4. philosophy

   1. acting or able to act in accordance with rules and principles of one's own choosing

   2. (in the moral philosophy of Kant, of an individual's will) directed to duty rather than to some other end Compare heteronomous See also categorical imperative

5. biology existing as an organism independent of other organisms or parts

6. a variant spelling of autonomic

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Other Word Forms

• autonomously adverb
• nonautonomous adjective
• nonautonomousness noun

Etymology

Origin of autonomous

First recorded in 1790–1800; from Greek autónomos “with laws of one's own, independent,” equivalent to auto- auto- ¹ + nóm(os) “law, custom” + -os adjective suffix

Example Sentences

Cybersecurity companies are providing critical governance services as autonomous AI agents become a greater portion of overall web traffic.

From MarketWatch

The authorities in this autonomous region are Iraqi Kurds, who desperately want to stay out of the war next door.

From BBC

Among them is Anduril Industries, a Costa Mesa startup that builds drone and other autonomous weapons and last year received a $2.5-billion funding round.

From Los Angeles Times

Usage restrictions governing its contract with the Pentagon stipulate that its AI cannot be used for domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.

From The Wall Street Journal

"What's truly scary about agents like OpenClaw is this: once they have your digital keys, they can theoretically access all the services you've authorised, and can autonomously decide when to activate them," Gao warned.

From Barron's

Related Words

• self-governing
• sovereign