Self-reliant

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Reliant upon oneself; trusting to one's own powers or judgment.

    "The Constitution deliberately makes the President and the Congress competitors as well as partners. The Founding Fathers created an elaborate system of checks and balances to keep each partner self-reliant while still assuring their interdependence. No brief account can fully capture the complexity of this relationship, in which each partner contributes his own share of stubbornness, pride, hostility, warmth, suspicion, skill, and affection."

Adjective
  1. 1
    (of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
arrogantassuredautarchicautarkicautonomousautonomous

Example

More examples

"Southerners are regarded as polite and easygoing and Midwesterners are considered self-reliant and conscientious."

Etymology

From self- + reliant.

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