self-determined
Americanadjective
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(of a program, course of action, etc.) chosen and controlled by oneself.
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(of a person) choosing and controlling one's own actions, career, path through life, etc.
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(of a people or nation) self-governed.
Other Word 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.
This passage is crafted to show us a self-determined society, multiethnic and multigendered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2025
His self-determined walk away into the sunrise is a victory over a ruinous game that would have stolen the jersey off his back years ago had he not been so calculatedly self-protective.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 1, 2023
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the new humanitarian relocation program is intended to give those persecuted by the Taliban “a bit of home and the chance of a free, self-determined and secure life.”
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2022
And then there’s the self-determined type, like Oracle’s Larry Ellison, who referred to his own leadership style as MBR, for “management by ridicule.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 8, 2022
I am a poor self-determined man, a true Breton born; my mind admires and fears yours.
From The Vicomte de Bragelonne Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" by Alexandre Dumas père
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.
