noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The act of one who self-handicaps, or an obstacle thus introduced.

Verb

1. 1
   To avoid making an effort, or to introduce deliberate obstacles to one's success, so as to prevent potential failure from hurting one's self-esteem. intransitive

Etymology

From self- + handicap.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.