autonomy
The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
Other meanings
A self-governing country or region.
The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
Related words
- autonomic
- autonomist
- nonautonomy
- semiautonomy
- autonomation
Example sentences
Word history
From Ancient Greek "αὐτονομῐ́ᾱ" (freedom to use its own laws, independence).
Where this comes from
This definition is adapted from “autonomy” on Wiktionary, by its contributors; example sentences are from Tatoeba, credited to their authors above, published under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page is published under the same licence.