Self-sufficient
adj ·4 syllables ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Able to provide for oneself independently of others; not needing external support.
"Over the next few decades, several million humans immigrated to Eden Prime and a primarily agrarian culture developed. The new colony quickly became not only self-sufficient, but began exporting goods."
- 2 Overconfident in one's own abilities; arrogant. obsolete
"In spite of these conscientious reflections, he was too self-sufficient to think he should find any difficulty in obtaining forgiveness for these sins of omission […]."
- 1 able to provide for your own needs without help from others wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"There is definitely a way to quit the world and live like an hermit in the mountains, being self-sufficient and without contact with anybody while not dying like a dog."
Etymology
From self- + sufficient, a calque of Ancient Greek αὐτάρκης (autárkēs).
Related phrases
More for "self-sufficient"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.