Automatic Definition

ôtə-mătĭk
automatics
adjective
Acting or operating in a manner essentially independent of external influence or control.
An automatic light switch; a budget deficit that triggered automatic spending cuts.
American Heritage
Done without conscious thought or volition, as if mechanically.
Webster's New World
Self-regulating.
An automatic washing machine.
American Heritage
Involuntary or reflex, as some muscle or gland action.
Webster's New World
Acting or done without volition or conscious control; involuntary.
Automatic shrinking of the pupils of the eyes in strong light.
American Heritage
noun
automatics
An automatic machine or device.
American Heritage
An automatic (or, popularly, semiautomatic) firearm.
Webster's New World
An automatic firearm.
American Heritage
Any automatic machine.
Webster's New World
A semiautomatic firearm.
American Heritage
idiom
on automatic
  • Functioning by or as if by automatic machine or device.
American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Automatic

Noun

Singular:
automatic
Plural:
automatics

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Automatic

  • on automatic

Origin of Automatic

  • From French automatique, from Ancient Greek αὐτόματον (automaton), neuter of αὐτόματος (automatos, “self-moving, moving of oneself, self-acting, spontaneous”), from αὐτός (autos, “self, myself”) + μέμαα (memaa, “to wish eagerly, strive, yearn, desire”).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Greek automatos auto- auto- -matos willing men-1 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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