on autopilot
20
4.1
- idiom
- Informal
:
en piloto automático
- After weeks of repetitive tasks, I felt like I was operating on autopilot at work.
- go on autopilot
- put on autopilot
- set on autopilot
I feel numb sometimes and I feel like I'm just on autopilot.
- I feel numb sometimes and I feel like I'm just on autopilot.
- This is huge because for a long time I just went on autopilot.
- Self sabotage happens when we are on autopilot.
- Like these people are on autopilot.
- All of it now is very much like on autopilot.
- One of them was putting it on autopilot.
- It's that we have less Democratic checks on the people and the systems that are on autopilot.
- I know it's a catchy title and their purpose is to put stock trades by corporate insiders on autopilot.
- But if it's just on autopilot, it's, it's very hard to create the space for this child to come through.
Examples
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Not bad considering the site has been on autopilot for a year or so due to my health issues.
Blog text (2) -
Much of the time we're running on autopilot.
Academic text (2004) -
Or just stay on autopilot the rest of your life.
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Wait, I think we were on autopilot the whole time.
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I mean, I was on autopilot.
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Like I'm not the kind of artist that can go on autopilot, which actually happens much more than people realize.
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Voting is very important, but the vast majority of votes are cast on autopilot.
Blog text (18) -
Relationships don't run on autopilot but need care, support, and a lot of love.
Blog text (18) -
Perhaps you were just going through the motions and felt like you were on autopilot.
Blog text (21) -
At this point, I'm pretty much on autopilot, and I probably should desist from responding there.
Blog text (7)
Synonyms
77
2.9
Without thinking, as a natural reaction
1
5.0
To act without thinking, as if following a routine
Antonyms
How Automatic
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'acting automatically without conscious thought' follows directly from combining 'autopilot' (a mode of automatic control or routine operation) with the state marker 'on'. Although slightly metaphorical, the compositional relation is clear and parallels common cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can predict the MWE meaning.
Etymology
The phrase on autopilot comes from airplanes: an autopilot is a machine that keeps a plane flying by itself after the pilot sets it. So when someone says they are on autopilot, it means they are doing things 'without thinking' or 'automatically'.