automobile

[aw-tuh-muh-beel, aw-tuh-muh-beel, aw-tuh-moh-beel, -buh l]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR automobile ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a passenger vehicle designed for operation on ordinary roads and typically having four wheels and a gasoline or diesel internal-combustion engine.See also hybrid(def 5b).

adjective

of or relating to automobiles; automotive.

Origin of automobile

1865–70; < French: literally, self-movable (vehicle). See auto-¹, mobile

Related formsau·to·mo·bil·ist

[aw-tuh-muh-bee-list, -moh-bi-list] /ˌɔ tə məˈbi lɪst, -ˈmoʊ bɪ lɪst/, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for automobile

transportation, auto, van, truck, bus, convertible, taxi, limousine, compact, lemon, wreck, ride, buggy, crate, bug, jalopy, heap, four-wheeler, subcompact, junker

Examples from the Web for automobile

Contemporary Examples of automobile

Strange was a surgeon who lost the use of his hands in an automobile accident.
The Flying Sorcery of Dr. Strange: Benedict Cumberbatch Is Marvel's Most Bizarre Magician
Rich Goldstein
December 8, 2014
Because the automobile essentially was a motorized quadricycle.
Pryor Dodge's Two-Wheeled Obsession Is Now a Museum of Bike History
Anthony Haden-Guest
September 15, 2014
He claimed that any serious conversation about poverty must include the issue of automobile access.
How Cars, Not Subways, Will Make Us Richer
Scott Beyer
June 4, 2014
Or an expert on cars who refuses to look under the hood of an automobile.
Music Criticism Has Degenerated Into Lifestyle Reporting
Ted Gioia
March 18, 2014
“General Motors did not start out to be a health care company that occasionally built an automobile,” Punaro said.
The H.M.O. That Kills Terrorists
Eleanor Clift
February 27, 2014

Historical Examples of automobile

For that reason, as well as because of the fumes in his brain, he did not hear the coming of the automobile.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
Away with it and its limitations, and those of its big brother, the automobile!
A Woman Tenderfoot
Grace Gallatin Seton-Thompson
The variable (an audible) part of the roadway for an automobile.
The Devil's Dictionary
Ambrose Bierce
He would have made a good radiator ornament on an automobile.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh
Along came the automobile, an eight-cylinder Super Junkster.
Pee-wee Harris
Percy Keese Fitzhugh

British Dictionary definitions for automobile

automobile

noun

another word (esp US) for car (def. 1)

Derived Formsautomobilist (ˌɔːtəməˈbiːlɪst, -ˈməʊbɪlɪst), noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for automobile

adj.

1883, in reference to electric traction cars, from French automobile (adj.), 1861, a hybrid from Greek autos "self" (see auto-) + French mobile "moving," from Latin mobilis "movable" (see mobile (adj.)).

"self-propelled motor vehicle," 1895, from French automobile, short for véhicule automobile (see automobile (adj.)). The modern Greek calls it autokineto "moved of itself." The French word had competition in the early years from locomobile; in English other early forms were motorcar and autocar.