automaticity
Americannoun
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the quality or fact of being performed involuntarily or unconsciously, as a reflex, innate process, or ingrained habit.
This online math program helps students achieve automaticity in the basic facts of addition and subtraction.
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the fact or quality of starting or operating independently.
In this historical drama, everything happens with the automaticity of clockwork, as if the ending has already been written.
Etymology
Origin of automaticity
Explanation
If you've ever heard the term "practice makes perfect," it’s a most fitting description of automaticity, which means being able to do something effortlessly because you've practiced it so much. Think of automaticity as your brain flipping on the "easy mode" for tasks you’ve practiced repeatedly. It comes from the word automatic, which refers to actions performed effortlessly and without conscious thought. An example of automaticity is mastering a new skill, like riding a bike. At first, bike riding might require a lot of brain power and effort to accomplish, but after a a bit of practice, it becomes so easy that you don’t have to think about it at all.
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.
“What’s worrying me is the automaticity of the actions — of more nuclear weapons and more missile defenses without thinking if there’s a smarter way.”
From New York Times • Nov. 28, 2021
In BuzzFeed, Katherine Miller correctly observed a certain automaticity infecting our discussions of this incident.
From Slate • Apr. 4, 2019
Others do not understand, and openly revel in the automaticity of the cloud.
From The Guardian • Feb. 26, 2019
The predictive mind model now hypothesizes that this automaticity shapes not only our perceptions but all mental processes, including our judgments, decisions and actions.
From Scientific American • Dec. 19, 2018
Not only is it true that repetition makes for automaticity, but intensity is also an aid.
From How to Teach by Strayer, George Drayton
Definitions 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.
