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autonomy

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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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 *nem-der.
Proto-Indo-European *németi
Proto-Hellenic *némō
Ancient Greek νέμω (némō)
Proto-Indo-European *-os
Proto-Hellenic *-os
Ancient Greek -ος (-os)
Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos)
▲
Proto-Hellenic *-os
Ancient Greek -ος (-os)
Ancient Greek αὐτόνομος (autónomos)
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-i-eh₂
Proto-Hellenic *-íā
Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā)
Ancient Greek αὐτονομῐ́ᾱ (autonomĭ́ā)bor.
English autonomy

    Borrowed from Ancient Greek αὐτονομῐ́ᾱ (autonomĭ́ā, “freedom to use its own laws, independence”), from αὐτόνομος (autónomos, “living under one's own laws, independent”) +‎ -ῐ́ᾱ (-ĭ́ā, “-y, -ia”, nominal suffix). By surface analysis, auto- (“self”) +‎ -nomy (“a system of rules or laws about a particular field”).

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    autonomy (countable and uncountable, plural autonomies)

    1. (uncountable) The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
      Antonyms: dependency, heteronomy, servitude, nonautonomy, inoperability
      Coordinate term: sovereignty
      • 1951, Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia‎[1], Verso, published 2005, page 200:
        But while assiduously dismissing any though of its own autonomy and proclaiming its victims its judges, it outdoes, in its veiled autocracy, all the excesses of autonomous art.
      • 2025 May 26, Joshua Nelken-Zitser, “I 'micro-retired' in my 30s by investing every dollar from my side income. It sounds almost too simple to be true, but it works.”, in Business Insider‎[2]:
        Financial independence and micro retirement have come to represent the autonomy I've created for myself, which is a powerful feeling.
    2. (government, countable) A self-governing country or region.
    3. (philosophy, uncountable) The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
    5. (mechanics, uncountable) The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator.
      Antonyms: heteronomy, incapacity
      • 1992, Steven Weinberg, Dreams of a Final Theory, Pantheon Books, page 41:
        ...[T]he fact that a scientific theory finds applications to a wide variety of different phenomena does not imply anything about the autonomy of this theory from deeper physical laws.
    6. (Christianity, uncountable) The status of a church whose highest-ranking bishop is appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but which is self-governing in all other respects. Compare autocephaly.

    Derived terms

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    Translations

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    References

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