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government.

self-governing; independent; subject to its own laws only.
pertaining to an autonomy, or a self-governing community.

having autonomy; not subject to control from outside; independent:
a subsidiary that functioned as an autonomous unit.
biology.

existing and functioning as an independent organism.
growing naturally or spontaneously, without cultivation.

contemporary examples

correction: an earlier draft of this article stated that guangxi is a province, when in fact it is an autonomous region.
ralph lauren child model, from roadside to runway claire stern may 22, 2013

both are trying to stress that the drone is only a tool, not an autonomous robot.
why drones make us nervous josh dzieza may 16, 2013

all the overdone, exploitative, insincere, and decontextualized violence is now an autonomous statement about the world.
tarantino’s hollow violence lee siegel august 23, 2009

abolishing the job means the intelligence agencies would revert back to the autonomous state they were in before 2001.
clapper’s intelligence test tara mckelvey december 22, 2010

a spokesman for the autonomous region of himaam, where cadaado is located, welcomed the rescue operation.
navy seals’ daring hostage rescue may signal more somalia land raids by u.s. margot kiser january 25, 2012

historical examples

can art—creative art, where the spirit would seem most autonomous—itself determine reality?
three plays luigi pirandello

what does “the autonomous development of small nations” mean to them?
the journal of negro history, volume 6, 1921 various

to be strictly accurate, the significance of the -ness is not quite as inherently determined, as autonomous, as it might be.
language edward sapir

but the autonomous activity was revived by the action of light on the pulvinule.
life movements in plants sir jagadis chunder bose

the autonomous activity of growth is ultimately derived from energy supplied by the environment.
life movements in plants sir jagadis chunder bose

adjective
(of a community, country, etc) possessing a large degree of self-government
of or relating to an autonomous community
independent of others
(philosophy)

acting or able to act in accordance with rules and principles of one’s own choosing
(in the moral philosophy of kant, of an individual’s will) directed to duty rather than to some other end compare heteronomous (sense 3) see also categorical imperative

(biology) existing as an organism independent of other organisms or parts
a variant spelling of autonomic (sense 3)
adj.

1800, from greek autonomos “having one’s own laws,” of animals, “feeding or ranging at will,” from autos “self” (see auto-) + nomos “law” (see numismatics). cf. privilege. used mostly in metaphysics and politics; see autonomic.