Definition of autopilot
1 : a device for automatically steering ships, aircraft, and spacecraft; also : the automatic control provided by such a device
2 : automatic pilot 2
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Examples of autopilot in a Sentence
an airplane equipped with an autopilot
The plane was flying on autopilot.
Recent Examples of autopilot from the Web
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Medicaid expansion in 31 states basically operates on autopilot.
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Despite fears (and hopes) that President Trump would withdraw America from the world stage and institute a fortress-America foreign policy, the new guard has put Obama’s foreign policy on autopilot.
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With Republican leaders wary of a shutdown, the clash over the border wall is more likely to lead to a stopgap spending bill in September that may end up putting the government on autopilot for a year.
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There's no autopilot in a Super Guppy, and the rule is one hour flying then a break.
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The legislation provides a plan for paying down about half of the state's $15 billion in unpaid bills that's mounted over the past two years in autopilot spending.
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A very initial assessment suggests the container ship might have been on some type of autopilot system at the time of the crash, the official said.
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Federal regulators said Monday that the driver of a Tesla Model S killed in a collision while the car was in autopilot mode did not have his hands on the steering wheel for a prolonged period of time.
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Of those 41 minutes, 37 were spent with the autopilot enabled.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'autopilot.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of autopilot
1916
AUTOPILOT Defined for English Language Learners
autopilot
playDefinition of autopilot for English Language Learners
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: a device that steers a ship, aircraft, or spacecraft in place of a person
Learn More about autopilot
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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about autopilot
Seen and Heard
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