auto.

Adjective

automatic (comparative more automatic, superlative most automatic)

1. Capable of operating without external control or intervention.
   • The automatic clothes washer was a great labor-saving device.

   Synonyms:

   self-operating

   Antonyms:

   manual, non-automatic

2. Done out of habit or without conscious thought.
   • The reaction was automatic: flight!

   Synonyms:

   instinctive, perfunctory, thoughtless, Pavlovian

   Antonyms:

   voluntary

3. Necessary, inevitable, prescribed by logic, law, etc.
   • Spitting at another player means an automatic red card.
4. Firing continuously as long as the trigger is pressed until ammunition is exhausted.
   • Fully automatic weapons cannot be legally owned by private citizens in the US, except in very special circumstances, as by private security companies.
5. An autoloader; a semi-automatic or self-loading pistol, as opposed to a revolver or other manually actuated handgun, which fires one shot per pull of the trigger; distinct from machine guns.
   • The US Army adopted John Browning's M1911 pistol as its sidearm, chambered in .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol).
6. Automatically added to and removed from the stack during the course of function calls.
   • Automatic variables are created on the stack. They are valid only from the point where they are declared to the end of the function.2012, Robert Clair, Learning Objective-C 2.0: A Hands-on Guide

See all 9 meanings of automatic