autistic

From autism +‎ -istic or -tic. First attested in 1913. The modern clinical sense is first used in 1943 by Leo Kanner.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɔːˈtɪs.tɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑˈtɪs.tɪk/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪstɪk

autistic (comparative more autistic, superlative most autistic)

1. Having autism, or pertaining to autism.

   Synonym: on the spectrum

   • 2003 February 7, Peter Bradshaw, “Punch-Drunk Love”, in The Guardian, UK, retrieved 7 August 2014:

     Barry is... well, what? Borderline autistic and obsessive-compulsive, with serious anger management issues and a dangerous behavioural disorder that in the real world would get him a one-way ticket to the rubber room.

   • 2016, Katherine Lashley, “Displaying Autism: The Thinking Images of Temple Grandin (2010)”, in Benjamin Fraser, editor, Cultures of Representation: Disability in World Cinema Contexts‎, page 130:

     Yet because of the history and proliferation of the supercrip in films in television shows – not only with autism but supercrips with other disabilities as well – viewers are primed for the supercrip autistic and are therefore not expecting (in some ways) a view of autism that comes across to many in the autism community as more realistic or honest.

2. (now derogatory, offensive, slang and medically obsolete) Socially inept, self-absorbed, or stupid.
3. (Internet slang, 4chan, offensive or self-deprecatory) Characterized by abnormal and unhealthy focus or persistence, and unhealthy hatred of opposition or criticism.

   Imagine being this autistic over a fictional character!

4. (slang, derogatory, offensive) Lame, uncool, stupid

autistic (plural autistics)

1. A person who has autism.
   • 2006, Alan Griswold, Autistic Symphony:

     If our definition of empathy were to require we take the human cognitive norm (overwhelmingly influenced by neurotypical cognition) as the absolute standard by which to measure empathy, then indeed we would have to conclude autistics do not instinctively possess a good sense of empathy.

   • 2022, Matthew Bennett, Emma Goodall, Autism and COVID-19:

     After reading this book, medical professionals should be able to develop an understanding of some of the challenges that autistics are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• autist

• idiot savant (potentially offensive)

• autistic spectrum
• autistic spectrum disorder (ASD)

Borrowed from French autistique.

autistic m or n (feminine singular autistică, masculine plural autistici, feminine and neuter plural autistice)

1. autistic