Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The condition or quality of being autonomous; independence.
- noun Self-government or the right of self-government; self-determination.
- noun Self-government with respect to local or internal affairs.
- noun A self-governing state, community, or group.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The power or right of self-government, whether in a community which elects its own magistrates and makes its own laws, or in an individual who acts according to his own will.
- noun A self-governing community.
- noun An autonomous condition; the condition of being subject only to its own laws; especially, in biology, organic independence.
- noun In the philos. of Kant, the doctrine that the moral law is one which reason imposes upon itself a priori, that is, independently of sense and sense-experience, and is therefore absolute and immutable: opposed to heteronomy (which see).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The power or right of self-government; self-government, or political independence, of a city or a state.
- noun (Metaph.) The sovereignty of reason in the sphere of morals; or man's power, as possessed of reason, to give law to himself. In this, according to Kant, consist the true nature and only possible proof of liberty.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Self-
government ;freedom toact orfunction independently . - noun philosophy The
capacity to make aninformed ,uncoerced decision . - noun mechanics The
capacity of a system to make adecision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator. - noun Christianity The status of a
church whose highest-rankingbishop is appointed by thepatriarch of the mother church, but which is self-governing in all other respects. Compareautocephaly .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun personal independence
- noun immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority: political independence
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The term autonomy is most apt: its Greek roots essentially mean "being a law unto oneself."
The Feast of the Holy Innocents Mike L 2005
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The term autonomy is most apt: its Greek roots essentially mean "being a law unto oneself."
Archive 2005-12-01 Mike L 2005
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The authors use the term autonomy, but it is clear that they mean to include and accord full measure in rule-setting to such nations as China and Russia.
Political Mavens 2009
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The authors use the term autonomy, but it is clear that they mean to include and accord full measure in rule-setting to such nations as China and Russia.
Political Mavens 2009
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Two independent nation states with full autonomy is not apartheid.
Matthew Yglesias » Israel Deserves Better Defenders Than Andrew Roberts 2010
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I live in a small community and privacy and autonomy is just not possible here.
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Given that I think the Senate Democrats will want some increased autonomy from the Executive, my own wisdom tells me that Schumer would be elected as their next Leader.
Will Bower: Will's Wish List for Election 2010 Will Bower 2010
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Masculinity is steeped in autonomy and independence.
Marcia Reynolds: What Is Femininity? Marcia Reynolds 2010
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Sargent Shriver fought hard for autonomy from the foreign policy establishment, and even received this encouragement from Vice President Johnson:
Tom Hayden: The Peace Corps at Fifty Tom Hayden 2010
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The societies that flourished there maintained certain autonomy with respect to these great developments.
Susan Segal: Art and Myth in Ancient Peru: The History of the Jequetepeque Valley Susan Segal 2010
JTroyer commented on the word autonomy
"For any created being, autonomy is lunacy." The Shack by WM Paul
October 1, 2010
Louises commented on the word autonomy
Over the phone I could feel his will to autonomy. There was someone he should okay it with, someone he didn't like. Whoever this person was their days of unchallenged leadership were numbered. Ellis liked me more than he liked them.
March 24, 2012