automatism

Examples Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of automatism 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 Other analysts countered that the defense would be successful in only a minuscule number of cases and that there is a difference between extreme intoxication and extreme intoxication akin to automatism. Amanda Coletta, Washington Post, 13 May 2022 But once humans traveling in this manner exhibited the automatism of the technology itself, any interruption entailed a catastrophic return of the anxiety initially repressed. Will Self, Harper's Magazine, 23 Nov. 2021 Founded by French poet, essayist and critic André Breton, Surrealism rejected the premise that culture and politics should be guided by rational principles, instead elevating dreams, automatism and psychoanalysis. Isis Davis-Marks, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Nov. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for automatism
Noun
  • All the while, Owens blurs hypnosis and seduction, speaking in bursts of two or fewer syllables that beckon the body and mind to loosen.
    Stephen Kearse, TIME, 9 Dec. 2024
  • But with hypnosis, compassion turns inward and towards your body.
    Lauren Brown West-Rosenthal, Parents, 5 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • Other topics of his lectures over the years that followed included animal magnetism, hypnotism, and the ether.
    Livia Gershon, JSTOR Daily, 12 Apr. 2024
  • It’s taken 200 years for hypnotism to evolve from a medical treatment to stage gag.
    Emily Latimer, Longreads, 25 Jan. 2024
Noun
  • 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
  • Learn about spiritualism, mesmerism and phrenology.
    Luann Gibbs, The Enquirer, 29 Sep. 2024

Thesaurus Entries Near automatism

Cite this Entry

“Automatism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/automatism. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on automatism

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!