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

• nonautonomousness
  noun
• nonautonomous
  adjective
• autonomously
  adverb

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

Explanation

Autonomous describes things that function separately or independently. Once you move out of your parents' house and get your own job, you will be an autonomous member of the family. This adjective autonomous is often used of countries, regions, or groups that have the right to govern themselves: Vatican City, where the Catholic pope lives, is an autonomous territory located within the city limits of Rome. The corresponding noun is autonomy, referring to the state of existing or functioning independently. Autonomous comes from the Greek roots autos, "self," and nomos, "law."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

autonomous

The FT, citing researchers at Israeli AI company Dream, said hackers had used open-source AI agents to build an autonomous tool to carry out the attack.

From Barron's ● Aug. 13, 2026

Turing has established a joint research partnership on autonomous driving with carmaker Subaru and auto-parts supplier Denso, both of which have a presence in the U.S. and other overseas markets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

During its mission, Endurance is expected to demonstrate precision landing, collect information about the lunar environment, and test autonomous systems that could be used on future Moon Base missions.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

Under the terms of the deal, Boeing would take a minority stake in Archer and retain access to Wisk’s autonomous flight technology.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

The whole dear notion of one’s own Self—marvelous old free-willed, free-enterprising, autonomous, independent, isolated island of a Self—is a myth.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Related Words

• self-governing
• sovereign