autonomous

Adjective

autonomous (comparative more autonomous, superlative most autonomous)

1. Governing itself independently.
   • an autonomous territory

   Synonyms:

   sovereign, self-governing

2. Of or relating to a territory that governs itself independently.
   • "Thank you, Louis," interrupted Carrados. "It is very nice to learn that. But I am really going to Kingsmouth because there's a man there—a curate—who has the second best private collection in Europe of autonomous coins of Thessaly."1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC
3. Sentient; self-aware.
4. Acting on one's own or independently; of a child, acting without being governed by parental or guardian rules.
   • Though Cade has for years reported on the development of autonomous vehicles, test drives usually have so-called safety drivers who ride along and can take over in case something goes wrong.2022 October 4, Soumya Karlamangla, “Behind the Story: Navigating San Francisco in a Driverless Car”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 21 Oct 2022

   Synonyms:

   self-standing, self-directed

5. (Celtic linguistics) Used with no subject, indicating an unknown or unspecified agent; used in similar situations as the passive in English (the difference being that the theme in the English passive construction is the subject, while in the Celtic autonomous construction the theme is the object and there is no subject).