Autocorrect

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Automatically adjusts and fixes mistakes made while typing text
2. Corrects misspelled words or typographical errors without user input
3. Makes real-time changes to typed text to resolve common input errors

Etymology: "Autocorrect" is a plain compound: the prefix "auto-", from the Greek "autos" meaning "self", joined to "correct", from Latin "corrigere," meaning "to set right." Put together, the word describes a process that sets errors right on its own, without a person doing the fixing. The "auto-" element is the more productive of the two. It attaches to many nouns and verbs in English to mean "self-acting" or "automatic," as in "automobile" (a self-moving vehicle) and "autopilot." Here it turns "correct," a word that has long meant to fix a mistake by hand, into a verb for a machine doing that same job silently and instantly as you type.

Synonyms: spell-check, text correction