automatism

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun any reaction that occurs automatically without conscious thought or reflection (especially the undirected behavior seen in psychomotor epilepsy)

From automat(on) + -ism.

This third condition is automatism. — Laughter: An Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, Henri Bergson
It evokes ideas of inertia, of passivity, of automatism. — Creative Evolution, Bergson, Henri
Then Tommy realized that he had touched one of the triggers that regulated the beetle's automatism. — Astounding Stories of Super-Science January 1930, Unknown

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