self-definition
Americannoun
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the act or process of defining or identifying one's own character, purpose, role, etc.
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the description used by someone to define or identify their own character, purpose, role, etc.
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Derived Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Not to do so is to outsource the right’s self-definition to the most vile and discrediting.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 16, 2025
This is not about identity politics but ennui: Even minuscule choices, like what socks to wear, are part of a larger cultural self-definition and viral conversation.
From Slate • Aug. 3, 2024
Here, I refuse to let grief become self-definition: I live unfettered from the speed of emergency.
From New York Times • Apr. 14, 2022
Lorde is also often credited with helping coin the term "Afro-German," which Black German communities embraced as an inclusive form of self-definition and also as a way to connect them to the global African diaspora.
From Salon • Mar. 19, 2022
Literacy corresponds to the experiences of human self-definition in the world of classical physics and chemistry.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Nadin, Mihai
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
