autonomous — English Dictionary

Adjective

1. Governing itself independently.

   Synonyms

   sovereignself-governing

   Examples

   an autonomous territory

2. Of or relating to a territory that governs itself independently.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   "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."

3. Sentient; self-aware.

4. Acting on one's own or independently; of a child, acting without being governed by parental or guardian rules.

   Synonyms

   self-standingself-directed

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   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.

5. 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).

   Usage

   • of a verb form

Adjective

1. (of political bodies) not controlled by outside forces

   Synonyms

   independentself-governingsovereign

   Examples

   an autonomous judiciary

   a sovereign state

2. existing as an independent entity

   Examples

   the partitioning of India created two separate and autonomous jute economies

3. (of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment

   Synonyms

   self-directedself-reliant