autonomy

1. (uncountable) The right or condition of self-government; freedom to act or function independently.Examples: "But while assiduously dismissing any though of its own autonomy and proclaiming its victims its judges, it outdoes, in its veiled autocracy, all the excesses of autonomous art."; "Financial independence and micro retirement have come to represent the autonomy I've created for myself, which is a powerful feeling."Antonyms: dependency, heteronomy, servitude, nonautonomy, inoperabilityuncountable

2. (government, countable) A self-governing country or region.countable

3. (philosophy, uncountable) The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.uncountable

4. (mechanics, uncountable) The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator.Examples: "...[T]he fact that a scientific theory finds applications to a wide variety of different phenomena does not imply anything about the autonomy of this theory from deeper physical laws."Antonyms: heteronomy, incapacityuncountable

5. (Christianity, uncountable) The status of a church whose highest-ranking bishop is appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but which is self-governing in all other respects. Compare autocephaly.uncountable