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automatic

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on automatic pilot

also on automatic

doing something without thinking about how or why you do it All the actors in this play seemed to be operating on automatic pilot, and none of them was very good.

Usage notes: also used in the form on autopilot with the same meaning: I was so tired, I was simply running on autopilot.

Related vocabulary: running on empty

Etymology: based on the literal meaning of automatic pilot (a system that flies a plane without human effort)

See also: automatic, on, pilot

on automatic pilot

  (informal) also on autopilot (informal)

if you are on automatic pilot, or do something on automatic pilot, you do something without thinking about what you are doing, usually because you have done it many times before By the second week of the election campaign she was making all her speeches on automatic pilot.

See also: automatic, on, pilot

on automatic

Functioning by or as if by automatic machine or device.

See also: automatic, on