automatically
/ˌɔːtəˈmatɪkli
/adverb
1(With reference to a device or process) by itself with little or no direct human control: the kettle automatically switched off when it boiled...
- Blocks begin to cool on the conveyor system, where they are automatically cased into individual boxes.
- The next step is to get the irrigation systems to activate automatically in response to real-time field data.
- The ball will automatically center itself in the bearing.
1.1(With reference to a firearm) continuously until the ammunition is exhausted or the pressure on the trigger is released: the recovered weapons had been illegally modified to fire fully automatically...
- The reactivated Uzis could not be fired automatically but could still be fired.
- The gun was set to fire automatically and was controlled from the periscope.
- When triggered, these firearms will load and fire automatically.
2Without conscious thought or attention; spontaneously: although I used my best Italian, the receptionists automatically replied in English...
- We assume that we have to be completely competent at all times, or we automatically conclude that we are hopelessly incompetent.
- When most people think of calcium, they automatically think dairy.
- The notion of a "young architects" appropriation automatically conjures up youth, enterprise, discovery.
2.1As a necessary and inevitable result of a fixed rule or particular set of circumstances: his passport was automatically revoked the winners of the Division 2 final are not automatically promoted...
- Personal experience does not translate automatically into engaging poetry.
- The existence of armed forces does not automatically lead to militarization.
- Apparently, many Americans do not know that a person born in the United States is automatically American.