AUTONOMY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does autonomy mean? 

• AUTONOMY (noun)
  The noun AUTONOMY has 2 senses:

1. immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority: political independence

2. personal independence

  Familiarity information: AUTONOMY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AUTONOMY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority: political independence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

autonomy; liberty

Hypernyms ("autonomy" is a kind of...):

independence; independency (freedom from control or influence of another or others)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "autonomy"):

self-determination; self-government; self-rule (government of a political unit by its own people)

Derivation:

autonomous (existing as an independent entity)

autonomous ((of political bodies) not controlled by outside forces)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Personal independence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

autonomy; self-direction; self-reliance; self-sufficiency

Hypernyms ("autonomy" is a kind of...):

independence; independency (freedom from control or influence of another or others)

Derivation:

autonomous ((of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment)

 Context examples 

This method allows the patient and/or family to have increased autonomy.

(Intravenous Patient-Controlled Analgesia, NCI Thesaurus)

CRNAs practice with a high level of autonomy in most surgical practice settings.

(Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, NCI Thesaurus)