automatic
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: automàtic
Alternative forms
- automatick (obsolete)
Etymology
From French automatique, 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”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
automatic (comparative more automatic, superlative most automatic) (superlative dubious)
- Capable of operating without external control or intervention.
- Synonym: self-operating
- Antonyms: manual, non-automatic
- The automatic clothes washer was a great labor-saving device.
- Done out of habit or without conscious thought.
- Synonyms: instinctive, perfunctory, thoughtless
- Antonym: voluntary
- The reaction was automatic: flight!
- Absent-minded doodling is a form of automatic art.
- 2021 November 10, Dan Shive, El Goonish Shive (webcomic), Comic for Wednesday, Nov 10, 2021:
- "I don't know why! Sometimes I feel like a girl! Sometimes a guy! I don't know why I feel that way! I just do! Always have! I can't remember not feeling this way! How do you explain something as natural and automatic to you as breathing?!"
- Necessary, inevitable, prescribed by logic, law, etc.
- Spitting at another player means an automatic red card.
- (of a firearm such as a machine gun) Firing continuously as long as the trigger is pressed until ammunition is exhausted.
- Coordinate terms: semi-automatic, burst mode, selective action, bolt action, lever action, (single-round per loading/chambering action) pump action
- Fully automatic weapons cannot be legally owned by private citizens in the US, except in very special circumstances, as by private security companies.
- (of a handgun) An autoloader; a semi-automatic or self-loading pistol, as opposed to a revolver or other manually actuated handgun, which fires one shot per pull of the trigger; distinct from machine guns.
- The US Army adopted John Browning's M1911 pistol as its sidearm, chambered in .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol).
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
- From a little hand-bag he extracted his automatic pistol, which he put upon the mantelpiece.
- (computing, of a local variable) Automatically added to and removed from the stack during the course of function calls.
- (mathematics, of a group) Having one or more finite-state automata.
Derived terms
- automagic
- automatical
- automatically
- automatic data processing machine
- automatic differentiation
- automatic distance control
- automatic half-barrier level crossing
- automaticity
- automatic leveling system
- automaticness
- automatic pilot
- automatic rifle
- automatic summarization
- automatic teller
- automatic teller machine
- automatic transmission
- automatic writing
- automatist
- biautomatic
- fully-automatic
- fully automatic time
- Instamatic
- laundromat
- manumatic
- nonautomatic
- -o-matic
- pseudoautomatic
- section automatic weapon
- semi-automatic
- semi-automatic transmission
- squad automatic weapon
- superautomatic
- teleautomatic
Related terms
Descendants
Translations
capable of operating without external control
|
acting without conscious thought
|
describing a firearm which fires continuously
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
automatic (plural automatics)
- A car with an automatic transmission; the transmission itself.
- Antonyms: manual, manual transmission, standard transmission, stick, stickshift, stick shift
- I never learned to drive a stick. I can only drive an automatic.
- A semi-automatic pistol.
- Coordinate term: revolver
- 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
- "I told him that if my automatic was not a spook-stopper, nothin' else would serve."
- 1934, Agatha Christie, chapter 9, in Murder on the Orient Express, London: HarperCollins, published 2017, page 262:
- 'The automatic under his pillow gave the lie to that statement.'
Translations
A car with automatic transmission
|
A semi-automatic pistol
|
See also
(automotive):
Etymology
Borrowed from French automatique. By surface analysis, automat + -ic.
Adjective
automatic m or n (feminine singular automatică, masculine plural automatici, feminine and neuter plural automatice)
Declension
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
| nominative/ accusative | indefinite | automatic | automatică | automatici | automatice | ||
| definite | automaticul | automatica | automaticii | automaticele | |||
| genitive/ dative | indefinite | automatic | automatice | automatici | automatice | ||
| definite | automaticului | automaticei | automaticilor | automaticelor | |||
Declension of automatic
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