automatic
Capable of operating without external control or intervention.
Adjective 4 meanings
Capable of operating without external control or intervention.
“The automatic clothes washer was a great labor-saving device.”
Done out of habit or without conscious thought.
“The reaction was automatic: flight!”
Necessary, inevitable, prescribed by logic, law, etc.
“Spitting at another player means an automatic red card.”
Firing continuously as long as the trigger is pressed until ammunition is exhausted.
“Fully automatic weapons cannot be legally owned by private citizens in the US, except in very special circumstances, as by private security companies.”
Noun 2 meanings
A car with an automatic transmission; the transmission itself.
“I never learned to drive a stick. I can only drive an automatic.”
A semi-automatic pistol.
“The G-men raiding the speakeasy were equipped with .45 automatics, while the local policemen were carrying revolvers and shotguns.”
Etymology
Borrowed from New Latin automaticus, from Classical Latin automatum (“automaton”) + -icus (adjectival suffix), from Ancient Greek αὐτόματον (autómaton), neuter of αὐτόματος (autómatos, “self-moving, moving of oneself, self-acting, spontaneous”), from αὐτός (autós, “self, myself”) + μέμαα (mémaa, “to wish eagerly, strive, yearn, desire”).
Similar and opposite words
AUTOMATIC at a glance
AUTOMATIC has 9 letters and scores 13 points in Scrabble (A 1 + U 1 + T 1 + O 1 + M 3 + A 1 + T 1 + I 1 + C 3) and 16 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #3,787 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with automatic
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