Meanings
- not comparableActing of or by itself.
On this railway there were three inclined planes of the self-acting type, the full wagons pulling up the empty.
1947 May and June, “Notes and News: The Fordell Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 1881 more example
The door is fitted with a powerful spring and a feather-touch self-acting lock. It cannot be left unlocked unless you deliberately prop it open.
1914, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectivedesigned to activate or move or regulate itself
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
Cite this entry
self-acting. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-acting
“self-acting.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-acting. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-acting,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-acting.
Source: self-acting on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.