Medical Term:


Pronunciation: aw-tom′ă-tizm


  1. The state of being independent of the will or of central innervation; applicable, for example, to the heart's action.
  2. An epileptic attack consisting of stereotyped psychic, sensory, or motor phenomena carried out in a state of impaired consciousness and of which the affected person usually has no knowledge.
  3. A condition in which a person is consciously or unconsciously, but involuntarily, compelled to performan certain motor or verbal acts, often purposeless and sometimes foolish or harmful.

Synonym(s): telergy

[G. automatos, self-moving, + -in]