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Anarchy vs Autonomy - What's the difference?

anarchy | autonomy |

As nouns the difference between anarchy and autonomy

is that anarchy is the state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body while autonomy is self-government; freedom to act or function independently.

anarchy

Noun

  • (uncountable) The state of a society being without authorities or an authoritative governing body.
  • (uncountable) Anarchism]]; the political theory that a community is best [[organize, organized by the voluntary cooperation of individuals, rather than by a government, which is regarded as being coercive by nature.
  • (countable) A chaotic and confusing absence of any form of political authority or government.
  • Confusion in general; disorder.
  • Usage notes

    * (confusion or misunderstanding in general) Anarchists feel it is inappropriate to use anarchy to mean “a state of chaos or confusion”. However, this has historically been a common use of the word. * (English Citations of "anarchy")

    Synonyms

    * see

    Antonyms

    * (all senses) nonanarchy (rare) * (disorder) order

    Derived terms

    * anarchic * anarchical * anarchically * anarchism * anarchist * anarcho- English words suffixed with -archy

    autonomy

    English

    Noun

  • Self-government; freedom to act or function independently.
  • (label) The capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision.
  • (label) The capacity of a system to make a decision about its actions without the involvement of another system or operator.
  • (label) The status of a church whose highest-ranking bishop is appointed by the patriarch of the mother church, but which is self-governing in all other respects. Compare autocephaly.
  • Synonyms

    * (self-government) nationhood, nationality, sovereignty, independence

    Antonyms

    * (self-government) dependency, nonautonomy, inoperability * (capacity to make independent decisions) heteronomy, incapacity

    Derived terms

    * autonomic * autonomous, autonomously