autonomous

[aw-ton-uh-muhs]

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.

autonomous

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• autonomously adverb
• nonautonomous adjective
• nonautonomousness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of autonomous¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of autonomous¹

C19: from Greek autonomos living under one's own laws, from _auto- + nomos law

Example Sentences

At the finish line is the prize of “artificial general intelligence”—a nebulous term that Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has defined as “highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work.”

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In small factories across America, agile automatons are making everything from parts for AI supercomputers to the hulls of America’s future autonomous naval weapons.

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WSJ: Your first commercial customer, Atlas Energy Solutions, now has eight trucks outfitted with Kodiak technology autonomously delivering sand in the Permian Basin in Texas.

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Bozeman says the company is now turning to agentic AI, a more powerful system that can make complex decisions autonomously, to further boost efficiency and productivity.

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For this bet to pay off, it will take a major shift in how consumers use cars, as well as changes to the various global regulations that oversee autonomous vehicles.

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Related Words

• self-governing www.thesaurus.com
• sovereign