Word.ws English Dictionary

autocides

autocides is the plural of autocide.

Meaning of autocide

Noun (1)

autocide (countable and uncountable, plural autocides)

  1. (uncountable) Control of a pest through propagation of sterile males.
    • Generally, autocide is most effective when applied to restricted populations (islands, etc.), but can be effective on parts of continents.1975, Dennis S. Hill, Agricultural Insect Pests of the Tropics and Their Control, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 22
  2. A substance produced by a bacterium that is fatal to that bacterium.
    • Five different autocides have been isolated from Myxococcus xanthus.2001, “Myxococcales”, in David R. Boone et al., editors, Bergey's Manual of Systematic Bacteriology, →ISBN, page 1065

Noun (2)

autocide (countable and uncountable, plural autocides)

  1. An act of suicide committed by crashing an automobile.
    • "Autocide is becoming the second most popular method for older teens to commit suicide," she said.1993 December 13, “Northbridge Educators Alerted to Depression Among Students”, in Worcester Telegram Gazette
  2. An act of killing someone with an automobile.

Noun (3)

autocide (plural autocides)

  1. (rare) One who commits suicide.
    • For as Saint Auguſtine reaſons well againſt ſuch Autocides and ſelfe murtherers, it is rather a token of puſillanimity and lacke of courage in them, than otherwayes a marke of true reſolution to doe ſo; […]1635, David Person, “[A Treatise of Death, and of Diverse Orders and Ceremonies of Burials.] Section 1. The Remembrance of Death Requisite in All Men: […]”, in Varieties: or, A Surveigh of Rare and...

Questions about autocides

What is autocides the plural of?
Autocides is the plural of autocide.

Words near autocides in the dictionary

  1. autochthons
  2. autochthony
  3. autochtonous
  4. autocidal
  5. autocide
  6. autocides
  7. autocinesis
  8. autocircumcision
  9. autocitation
  10. autocitrullinated
  11. autocitrullination

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: autocides (page history and authors); autocide (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “autocides.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/autocides. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.