autonomy

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

English Wikipedia has articles on:
Wikipedia

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

autonomy (countable and uncountable, plural autonomies)

  1. (uncountable) The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
    • 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.
    Synonym: sovereignty
    Antonyms: dependency, nonautonomy, inoperability
    1. (government, countable) A self-governing country or region.
  2. (philosophy, uncountable) The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
  4. (mechanics, uncountable) The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator.
    • 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.
    Antonyms: heteronomy, incapacity
  5. (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[edit]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=autonomy&oldid=67535323"