What does automatical mean?
"Automatical" is an adjective meaning self-operating or self-acting — moving, working, or happening without direct human intervention. It is essentially an older form of the modern word "automatic": both describe machines that run by their own mechanism, actions performed involuntarily or without conscious thought, and processes that unfold of themselves. Historically, "automatical" appeared in English from around the seventeenth century, but over time the shorter form "automatic" displaced it entirely, and today "automatical" survives only as a rare archaism found in historical writing and dictionaries. Its roots lie in the Greek "automatos," meaning self-moving, the same root that gave us "automaton" and "automation." A reader encountering "automatical" in an old text should simply understand it as "automatic"; anyone choosing words afresh should use "automatic," since "automatical" now strikes modern ears as antiquated rather than elegant.
adjectiveA rare, largely archaic variant of "automatic," describing something that operates or occurs by itself without direct human intervention.
- (of a device, process, or action) Operating or occurring by itself, without direct human intervention; automatic.
"The mill's automatical grinding mechanism continued turning long after the miller had gone home."
"The clock featured an automatical striking mechanism that rang the hours unattended."
"Her automatical response to danger — reaching for the brake — saved them from a collision."
"Automatical" was once the normal English way to say what we now call automatic — the word didn't change its meaning, just shed a syllable on its way into modern use.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of automatical
"Automatical" derives from the Greek "automatos" (self-moving), which entered Latin as "automaticus" before passing into English in the early modern period, where it took the adjectival suffix "-al." The word shares this Greek root with "automaton," "automate," and "automatism." From roughly the seventeenth century onward it served as the ordinary adjective for self-operating things, but it gradually gave way to the shorter "automatic," leaving "automatical" as an obsolete variant known mainly to historians of the language.
Related word forms
How automatical is actually used
"Automatical" is obsolete in contemporary English; readers will almost always expect "automatic." It survives chiefly in historical texts and dictionaries, so using it today would read as deliberately archaic.
Easily confused with automatical
"Automatic" is the standard modern word for something operating independently; "automatical" is an obsolete variant that means the same thing but is virtually never used today.