autonomous
- 1Of a country, region or body, governing itself rather than being ruled by another.
The region has been autonomous since the treaty, electing its own parliament and running its own schools.
Each autonomous province sets its own taxes and runs its own police force.
Similarself-governing, sovereign
Oppositedependent
- 2Acting independently, on one's own; of a child, acting without being bound by the rules of parents or guardians.
Our manager trusts us to be autonomous and rarely checks how we organize our day.
By fifteen he was fairly autonomous, making his own plans without checking with his parents.
Similarself-directed
Oppositedependent
Note
Engineering has taken this sense up: an autonomous vehicle is one built to drive itself, though test drives usually keep a safety driver aboard who can take over. Said of a person, it is about independence of action, not the self-rule of an autonomous region: a teenager who makes his own plans is autonomous without governing anyone.
- 3Of a Celtic verb form, used with no subject to leave the agent unknown or unstated; it does the work of the English passive, but the thing acted on stays the object.
Irish uses an autonomous verb form in many places where English would reach for the passive.
The grammar's chapter on autonomous forms explains how to report an action without naming anyone behind it.
Note
The construction is easiest to picture as a sentence shaped like "built the house", with nothing in the subject position. English cannot leave that slot empty, so a translation must choose: "the house was built" makes the house the subject, and "someone built the house" supplies a doer. The Celtic form does neither.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of autonomous apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
Formed from autonomy + the suffix -ous.