auto
noun
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auto
1 American
[aw-toh]
/ ˈɔ toʊ /
noun
-
autos
plural
adjective
auto-
2
American
auto-
3
American
auto-
4
American
auto.
5
American
abbreviation
-
automatic.
-
automobile.
-
automotive.
auto
1
British
/ ˈɔːtəʊ /
noun
-
-
short for automobile
-
( as modifier )
auto parts
-
-
informal short for autorickshaw
auto-
2
British
combining form
-
self; same; of or by the same one
autobiography
-
acting from or occurring within; self-caused
autohypnosis
-
self-propelling; automatic
automobile
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of auto1
An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900; by shortening
Origin of auto-2
< Greek, combining form of autós self
Origin of auto-3
see origin at auto
Explanation
An auto is a car. If you drive your auto too fast, you might get a speeding ticket. The word auto is an informal, shortened form of automobile. You're most likely to hear the word auto when someone's talking about insurance, auto parts, or the auto industry. Automobile was originally a French word, formed from the Greek autos, or "self," and the French mobile, "moving."
Vocabulary lists containing auto
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The WSJ Leadership Institute’s Katie Deighton keeps the focus on auto news today, with a check-in on the Jaguar relaunch saga:
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Post Office, a Coco’s restaurant and a Valvoline auto repair shop.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
Group revenue fell to 30.45 billion euros from 32.31 billion euros, as BMW shipped fewer cars due to weakness in the Chinese auto market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026
German auto parts supplier Schaeffler said Tuesday that it planned to cut almost 3,500 jobs and close five sites in Europe as the crisis gripping the region's car industry deepens.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
His first students were in the vo-tech program—vocations and technology—and took half their classes in such disciplines as auto mechanics, carpentry, baking, welding, and hairdressing.
From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove
An auto- inflammatory disease is defined by chronic inflammation, unprovoked by an infection, when antibody concentrations are not high.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
So you used to be able to post to WordPress and we would auto- post to Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook etc., and they turned off those API is after Cambridge Analytica.
From The Verge ● Aug. 14, 2019
“Yet while auto- and steelworkers generally shared some of the gains of their industries, the growers rarely got their piece of the pie,” Simon writes.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 1, 2017
Debating the question “is the iCar real?” has become a favorite barroom distraction for auto- and tech journos alike.
From Time ● Apr. 18, 2016
Moreover, as was shown by what followed, she was oddly exercising the faculty of invention upon the spe- ciality of the clever Jacquet Droz, the designer of auto- matic substitutes for human limbs.
From Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
Core retail sales, excludes autos and fuel, were up 1.1% between July and August after a fall of 0.7% a month prior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
Sales except autos rose 0.9% in September, also higher than 0.5% in the WSJ consensus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Food, autos, household durables, recreational goods, airlines and delivery services are among the most freight- and fuel-exposed goods-and-services categories, the economists said.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026
This set of products includes chips and servers and has quickly become Mexico’s top export to the U.S., surpassing autos this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
All the roads was paved and they was full of autos.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
