Automobile
adj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A type of motor vehicle designed to move on the ground under its own stored power and intended to carry a driver, a small number of additional passengers, and a very limited amount of other load. Australia, Canada, New-Zealand, Philippines, US
"Meronym: see list of auto parts"
- 2 a motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine wordnet
- 1 To travel by automobile. dated, intransitive
"The misguided youngsters are yachting, attending the races, playing the "stage Johnny," automobiling, playing poker for high stakes, overliving at home, on expensive shopping tours, attending box parties to the theatre, visiting high-priced restaurants, etc., etc."
- 2 travel in an automobile wordnet
- 1 Self-moving; self-propelled. not-comparable
"As early as 1898 I proposed to representatives of a large manufacturing concern the construction and public exhibition of an automobile carriage which, left to itself, would perform a great variety of operations involving something akin to judgment."
Example
More examples"Because of the problem of air pollution, the bicycle may some day replace the automobile."
Etymology
From French automobile, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + French mobile (“moving”), from Latin mōbilis (“movable”), equivalent to auto- (“self”) + mobile.
Related phrases
More for "automobile"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.