automatic
Part of speech: adj
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
Etymology: Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewder.?
Proto-Indo-European *sóder.?
Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewder.
Ancient Greek αὖ (aû)
Ancient Greek τόν (tón)?
Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós)
Ancient Greek αὐτο- (auto-)
Proto-Indo-European *men-
Proto-Indo-European *-tós
Proto-Indo-European *mn̥tós
Proto-Hellenic *mətós
Ancient Greek αὐτόμᾰτος (autómătos)
Ancient Greek αὐτόμᾰτον (autómăton)der.
Classical Latin automatum
New Latin automaticusbor.
English automatic
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”). The original pronunciation, apparently with stress on the second syllable, was after the ultimate Greek base.
Inflected forms:
form: more automatic
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most automatic
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: dubious
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: automatick
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: automatics
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: automatick
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: Capable of operating without external control or intervention.
pos: adj
examples: The automatic clothes washer was a great labor-saving device.
"But you know of the automatic card-player?"
[…] Carrados had heard more than once casual allusions to a wonderful mechanical contrivance that played cards with discrimination.
gloss: Done out of habit or without conscious thought.
pos: adj
examples: The reaction was automatic: flight!
Absent-minded doodling is a form of automatic art.
"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?!"
gloss: Necessary, inevitable, prescribed by logic, law, etc.
pos: adj
examples: Spitting at another player means an automatic red card.
gloss: Firing continuously as long as the trigger is pressed until ammunition is exhausted.
pos: adj
examples: Fully automatic weapons cannot be legally owned by private citizens in the US, except in very special circumstances, as by private security companies.
gloss: 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.
pos: adj
examples: The US Army adopted John Browning's M1911 pistol as its sidearm, chambered in .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol).
From a little hand-bag he extracted his automatic pistol, which he put upon the mantelpiece.
gloss: Automatically added to and removed from the stack during the course of function calls.
pos: adj
examples: Automatic variables are created on the stack. They are valid only from the point where they are declared to the end of the function.
gloss: Having one or more finite-state automata.
pos: adj
gloss: A car with an automatic transmission; the transmission itself.
pos: noun
examples: I never learned to drive a stick. I can only drive an automatic.
gloss: A semi-automatic pistol.
pos: noun
examples: The G-men raiding the speakeasy were equipped with .45 automatics, while the local policemen were carrying revolvers and shotguns.
"I told him that if my automatic was not a spook-stopper, nothin' else would serve."
'The automatic under his pillow gave the lie to that statement.'
Related words: automagical
automat
automation
automatization
automatize
automaton
automobile
autopilot
semi-automatic
manumatic
manual
Derived words: automagic
automatical
automatically
automatic data processing machine
automatic differentiation
automatic distance control
automatic door
automatic half-barrier level crossing
automaticity
automatic leveling system
automatic litter box
automaticness
automatic pencil
automatic pilot
automatic rifle
automatic teller
automatic teller machine
automatic train control
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
Translations: