autonomous
/ɔˈtɑnəməs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.85 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
adj
Of or relating to a territory that governs itself independently.
adj
adj
Acting on one's own or independently; of a child, acting without being governed by parental or guardian rules.
adj
Used with no subject, indicating an unknown or unspecified agent; used in similar situations as the passive in English (the difference being that the theme in the English passive construction is the subject, while in the Celtic autonomous construction the theme is the object and there is no subject).
Example Sentences
- "an autonomous territory"
- ""Thank you, Louis," interrupted Carrados. "It is very nice to learn that. But I am really going to Kingsmouth because there's a man there—a curate—who has the second best private collection in Europe of autonomous coins of Thessaly.""
- "Though Cade has for years reported on the development of autonomous vehicles, test drives usually have so-called safety drivers who ride along and can take over in case something goes wrong."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂ew Proto-Indo-European *tó- Proto-Hellenic *autós Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewder. Ancient Greek αὖ (aû) Ancient Greek τόν (tón) Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós) Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-) Proto-Indo-European *nem-der. Proto-Indo-European *németi Proto-Hellenic *némō Ancient Greek νέμω (némō) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Hellenic *-os Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos) ▲ Proto-Hellenic *-os Ancient Greek -ος (-os) Ancient Greek αὐτόνομος (autónomos) Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂ Proto-Hellenic *-íā Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā) Ancient Greek αὐτονομῐ́ᾱ (autonomĭ́ā)bor. English autonomy Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.? Proto-Italic *-ŏ̄dsos? Old Latin -ōssus Latin -ōsus Old French -usbor. Middle English -ous English -ous English autonomous From autonomy + -ous.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ɔˈtɑnəməs/
- British English: /ɔːˈtɒnəməs/
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Linguistics.
Inflected Forms
more autonomous (comparative)
most autonomous (superlative)