automobile

au·to·mo·bile
A1U1T1O1M3O1B3I1L1E1
Australia, New Zealand, UK/ˈɔː.tə.məˌbiːl/US/ˈɔː.tə.məˌbil/US/ˌɔː.tə.məˈbil/US/ˌɔː.təˈmoʊ.bil/

noun

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.

“Meronym: see list of auto parts”

Meanings

nounautomobile (plural automobiles)

plural automobiles

  1. AustraliaCanadaNew ZealandPhilippinesUSA 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.

    Meronym: see list of auto parts

    1 more example

    Surprisingly, this analysis revealed that acute exposure to solvent vapors at concentrations below those associated with long-term effects appears to increase the risk of a fatal automobile accident.

    2013 July-August, Philip J. Bushnell, “Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance”, in American Scientist

    Synonyms: auto, cage, cah, car, devil wagon, horseless carriage, motor car, wheels

verbautomobile (third-person singular simple present automobiles, present participle automobiling, simple past and past participle automobiled)

present singular third person automobiles · participle present automobiling · participle past automobiled · past automobiled

  1. datedintransitiveTo travel by automobile.

    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.

    1909, “"How Can He Do It?"”, in Notions and Fancy Goods, volume 43, page 30
adjectiveautomobile (not comparable)
  1. not comparableSelf-moving; self-propelled.

    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.

    1919, Nikola Tesla, My Inventions

    Synonyms: autokinetic

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA 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.

adjectiveSelf-moving; self-propelled.

More synonyms by meaning

nouna motor vehicle with four wheels; usually propelled by an internal combustion engine

Broader
motor vehicleautomotive vehicle

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  2. Proto-Indo-European*tó-
  3. Proto-Hellenic*autós
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₂ew
  5. Ancient Greekαὖ (aû)
  6. Ancient Greekτόν (tón)
  7. Ancient Greekαὐτός (autós)
  8. Ancient Greekαὐτο- (auto-)
  9. Frenchauto-
  10. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)ewh₁-
  11. Proto-Indo-European*m(y)owh₁éyeti
  12. Proto-Italic*moweō
  13. Latinmoveō
  14. Latinmōbili
  15. Frenchmobile
  16. Frenchautomobile
  17. Englishautomobile

From French automobile, from Ancient Greek αὐτός (autós, “self”) + French mobile (“moving”), from Latin mōbilis (“movable”), equivalent to auto- (“self”) + mobile.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans automobiel
  • automobielpassenger vehicle
Arabic سَيَّارَة, أُوتُومُوبِيل
  • سَيَّارَة (sayyāra)passenger vehicle
  • أُوتُومُوبِيل (ʔotōmōbīl)passenger vehicle
  • عَرَبِيَّة (ʕarabiyya)passenger vehicle
Basque automobil
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
Bengali গাড়ি, বাহন
  • গাড়ি (gaṛi)passenger vehicle
  • বাহন (bahon)passenger vehicle
  • স্বতশ্চলশকট্ (śotoścolśokoṭ)passenger vehicle
  • মোটরগাড়ি (mōṭorgaṛi)passenger vehicle
Bulgarian автомоби́л, кола́
  • автомоби́л (avtomobíl)passenger vehicle
  • кола́ (kolá)passenger vehicle
Catalan automòbil
  • automòbilpassenger vehicle
Chinese Cantonese 汽車 /汽车
  • 汽車 /汽车 (hei³ ce¹)passenger vehicle
Chinese Mandarin 汽車 /汽车, 車 /车
  • 汽車 /汽车 (qìchē)passenger vehicle
  • 車 /车 (chē)passenger vehicle
  • 機動車 /机动车 (jīdòngchē)passenger vehicle
Czech automobil, auto
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
Danish bil, automobil
  • bilpassenger vehicle
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
Dutch automobiel, auto
  • automobielpassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
  • motorrijtuigpassenger vehicle
Esperanto aŭtomobilo, aŭto
  • aŭtomobilopassenger vehicle
  • aŭtopassenger vehicle
Estonian auto, automobiil
  • autopassenger vehicle
  • automobiilpassenger vehicle
  • masinpassenger vehicle
Finnish auto, henkilöauto
  • autopassenger vehicle
  • henkilöautopassenger vehicle
  • automobiilipassenger vehicle
  • autoillato travel by automobile
  • auto-self-moving
French voiture, auto
  • voiturepassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
  • automobilepassenger vehicle
  • charpassenger vehicle
German Automobil, Auto
  • Automobilpassenger vehicle
  • Autopassenger vehicle
  • Kraftfahrzeugpassenger vehicle
  • Personenwagenpassenger vehicle
  • Kraftwagenpassenger vehicle
  • Personenkraftwagenpassenger vehicle
  • PKWpassenger vehicle
  • Pkwpassenger vehicle
  • Wagenpassenger vehicle
Greek αυτοκίνητο
  • αυτοκίνητο (aftokínito)passenger vehicle
Hebrew מְכוֹנִית
  • מְכוֹנִית (m'khonít)passenger vehicle
Hindi मोटरवाहन, गाड़ी
  • मोटरवाहन (moṭarvāhan)passenger vehicle
  • गाड़ी (gāṛī)passenger vehicle
  • कार (kār)passenger vehicle
  • मोटर (moṭar)passenger vehicle
  • मोटर-गाड़ी (moṭar-gāṛī)passenger vehicle
  • मोटरगाड़ी (moṭargāṛī)passenger vehicle
  • वाहन (vāhan)passenger vehicle
  • मोटरकार (moṭarkār)passenger vehicle
  • ऑटोमोबाइल (ŏṭomobāil)passenger vehicle
Hungarian autó, automobil
  • autópassenger vehicle
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
  • személygépkocsipassenger vehicle
Icelandic bifreið, bíll
  • bifreiðpassenger vehicle
  • bíllpassenger vehicle
Indonesian otomobil
  • otomobilpassenger vehicle
Irish gluaisteán, carr
  • gluaisteánpassenger vehicle
  • carrpassenger vehicle
  • mótarpassenger vehicle
Italian automobile, auto
  • automobilepassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
  • macchinapassenger vehicle
  • vetturapassenger vehicle
  • autovetturapassenger vehicle
Japanese 自動車, 乗用車
  • 自動車 (jidōsha)passenger vehicle
  • 乗用車 (jōyōsha)passenger vehicle
  • 四輪車 (yonrinsha)passenger vehicle
  • 車 (kuruma)passenger vehicle
Korean 자동차, 차
  • 자동차 (jadongcha)passenger vehicle
  • 차 (cha)passenger vehicle
  • 사륜차 (saryuncha)passenger vehicle
Latin autocinetum, autocurrus
  • autocinetumpassenger vehicle
  • autocurruspassenger vehicle
  • autovehiculumpassenger vehicle
  • autoraedapassenger vehicle
Latvian automobilis, automašīna
  • automobilispassenger vehicle
  • automašīnapassenger vehicle
  • spēkratspassenger vehicle
Lithuanian automobilis, mašina
  • automobilispassenger vehicle
  • mašinapassenger vehicle
Malay automobil, kereta
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
  • keretapassenger vehicle
Māori motokā
  • motokāpassenger vehicle
Norwegian Bokmål bil
  • bilpassenger vehicle
Polish samochód, auto
  • samochódpassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
  • furapassenger vehicle
Portuguese automóvel, carro
  • automóvelpassenger vehicle
  • carropassenger vehicle
  • veículopassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
Punjabi ਕਾਰ
  • ਕਾਰ (kār)passenger vehicle
Romanian automobil, mașină
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
  • mașinăpassenger vehicle
Russian автомоби́ль, автомаши́на
  • автомоби́ль (avtomobílʹ)passenger vehicle
  • автомаши́на (avtomašína)passenger vehicle
  • маши́на (mašína)passenger vehicle
  • авто́ (avtó)passenger vehicle
  • та́чка (táčka)passenger vehicle
  • мото́р (motór)passenger vehicle
Slovak automobil, auto
  • automobilpassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
Spanish automóvil, carro
  • automóvilpassenger vehicle
  • carropassenger vehicle
  • cochepassenger vehicle
  • autopassenger vehicle
Swahili motakari bus, motokari bus
  • motakari buspassenger vehicle
  • motokari buspassenger vehicle
  • motokaapassenger vehicle
  • garipassenger vehicle
Swedish bil
  • bilpassenger vehicle
Tagalog awtomobil, isugang batlag
  • awtomobilpassenger vehicle
  • isugang batlagpassenger vehicle
  • batlagpassenger vehicle
  • kotsepassenger vehicle
  • awtopassenger vehicle
Tamil மோட்டார், வண்டி
  • மோட்டார் (mōṭṭār)passenger vehicle
  • வண்டி (vaṇṭi)passenger vehicle
Thai รถยนต์, รถ
  • รถยนต์ (rót-yon)passenger vehicle
  • รถ (rót)passenger vehicle
Turkish otomobil, araba
  • otomobilpassenger vehicle
  • arabapassenger vehicle
Ukrainian автомобі́ль, маши́на
  • автомобі́ль (avtomobílʹ)passenger vehicle
  • маши́на (mašýna)passenger vehicle
  • автомаши́на (avtomašýna)passenger vehicle
  • авто́ (avtó)passenger vehicle
Urdu گاڑی, کار
  • گاڑی (gāṛī)passenger vehicle
  • کار (kār)passenger vehicle
  • آٹوموبِیل (āṭomobīl)passenger vehicle
Vietnamese xe hơi, ô tô
  • xe hơipassenger vehicle
  • ô tôpassenger vehicle
  • xepassenger vehicle
Yiddish אויטאָמאָביל, אויטאָ
  • אויטאָמאָביל (oytomobil)passenger vehicle
  • אויטאָ (oyto)passenger vehicle
  • מאַשין (mashin)passenger vehicle
Cite this entry
APA

automobile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/automobile

MLA

“automobile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/automobile. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “automobile,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/automobile.

Source: automobile on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.