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Recent Examples of automatism
Sheer repetitions on the training ground were La Volpe’s best method of instilling his ideas, insisting that his players practice multiple ‘salidas’ on the left and right side of the pitch in every session to build their muscle memory, trust and automatisms.
—
Mark Carey, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2025
At the club, time allows automatisms and structure to become habit.
—Philipp Lahm, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025
French critic Laurent Jenny, in a piece translated by Thomas Trezise, contrasts Breton and Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, who, beginning in 1930, challenged some of the ideas of automatism.
—Allison C. Meier, JSTOR Daily, 19 Sep. 2024
Psychic automatism is a dubious technique but a splendid alibi, enabling many of the artists in the exhibition to get away with imagery that, if not outright cliché, looks a lot like it.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024
Acquaintance with surrealists who’d washed up in New York in the early 1940s introduced Motherwell to artistic automatism: spontaneous creation, without a plan.
—Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 16 June 2023
There are many reasons why André Breton, the ringleader of the Surrealists, after first embracing Jacob’s work, eventually rejected it, but chief among them was probably his recognition that Jacob’s literary discipline left no room for the automatism that was so important to Breton.
—Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 25 Feb. 2021
Van Norman, however, points out that some exhibit spinal automatism, a complex spectrum of movements including flexion of limbs and trunk, stepping motions, grasping motions, and head turning.
—Dick Teresi, Discover Magazine, 19 Feb. 2012
Mark Carey, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2025
At the club, time allows automatisms and structure to become habit.
—Philipp Lahm, The Athletic, 24 Mar. 2025
French critic Laurent Jenny, in a piece translated by Thomas Trezise, contrasts Breton and Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, who, beginning in 1930, challenged some of the ideas of automatism.
—Allison C. Meier, JSTOR Daily, 19 Sep. 2024
Psychic automatism is a dubious technique but a splendid alibi, enabling many of the artists in the exhibition to get away with imagery that, if not outright cliché, looks a lot like it.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 5 Aug. 2024
Acquaintance with surrealists who’d washed up in New York in the early 1940s introduced Motherwell to artistic automatism: spontaneous creation, without a plan.
—Scott Cantrell, Dallas News, 16 June 2023
There are many reasons why André Breton, the ringleader of the Surrealists, after first embracing Jacob’s work, eventually rejected it, but chief among them was probably his recognition that Jacob’s literary discipline left no room for the automatism that was so important to Breton.
—Jed Perl, The New York Review of Books, 25 Feb. 2021
Van Norman, however, points out that some exhibit spinal automatism, a complex spectrum of movements including flexion of limbs and trunk, stepping motions, grasping motions, and head turning.
—Dick Teresi, Discover Magazine, 19 Feb. 2012
Recent Examples of Synonyms for automatism
Noun
-
There is a quality of trance, of autohypnosis, in her style.—
New York Times,
New York Times,
19 Jan. 2021
Noun
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The retreat offers unique services such as hypnosis, past-life regression analysis, saging, and aura readings.—
Ronny Maye,
Essence,
7 Aug. 2025
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Each morning, Alistair had performed an act of meditative hypnosis on himself.—
Charles Pellegrino,
Rolling Stone,
6 Aug. 2025
Noun
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This hypnotism is especially conveyed through the film’s costumes.—
Eugenie Dalland,
Los Angeles Times,
7 May 2025
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Other topics of his lectures over the years that followed included animal magnetism, hypnotism, and the ether.—
Livia Gershon,
JSTOR Daily,
12 Apr. 2024
Noun
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Barrymore’s turn in the lead role is itself a feat of silver-screen mesmerism, portraying Svengali as a cruel yet magnetic figure who wields his own charisma as an instrument of terrible power.—
Samantha Bergeson,
IndieWire,
16 Jan. 2025
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The combination of cultural individualism, industrialization, and technological advance created a cultural moment in which audiences were open to and actively explored the idea of unseen forces (hey, if telegraph and photography worked, why not mesmerism, spiritualism, or palm-reading?).—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Oct. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Automatism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/automatism. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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