Automatic

Quick meaning: Automatic is an adjective meaning Capable of operating without external control or intervention.

Meaning

Capable of operating without external control or intervention.

More Meanings

1. Done out of habit or without conscious thought.
2. Necessary, inevitable, prescribed by logic, law, etc.
3. (of a firearm such as a machine gun) Firing continuously as long as the trigger is pressed until ammunition is exhausted.
4. (programming, of a local variable) Automatically added to and removed from the stack during the course of function calls.
5. (mathematics, of a group) Having one or more finite-state automata.
6. A car with an automatic transmission; the transmission itself.
7. (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.

Example Sentences

The reaction was automatic: flight!

Absent-minded doodling is a form of automatic art.

Spitting at another player means an automatic red card.

The automatic clothes washer was a great labor-saving device.

Word Forms

• automatick
• automatics

Synonyms for automatic

Depending on context, synonyms include instinctive, perfunctory, thoughtless, involuntary, reflexive, reflex.

Antonyms for automatic

Common opposites include manual, non-automatic, voluntary, stick, stickshift.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include self-regulating, self-acting, reflex, involuntary, reflexive, mechanical.

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