self-sufficient

Also self-suf·fic·ing

[self-suh-fish-uhnt, self-]

adjective

1. able to supply one's own or its own needs without external assistance.

   The nation grows enough grain to be self-sufficient.

2. having extreme confidence in one's own resources, powers, etc..

   He was self-sufficient, and always reminded you of it.

self-sufficient

adjective

1. able to provide for or support oneself without the help of others

Other Word Forms

• self-sufficiency noun
• self-sufficiently adverb
• unself-sufficiency noun
• unself-sufficient adjective
• unself-sufficiently adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-sufficient¹

First recorded in 1580–90

Example Sentences

It also turns self-sufficient producers into supplicants pleading for subsidies.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He and other board members said the plan will help L.A. weather droughts, become more locally self-sufficient and take less water from distant sources.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

"I don't want to have to have help from anybody, I want to be self-sufficient," she says.

Read more on BBC

Having grown up in a family of self-sufficient farmers, Ben was no stranger to being knee deep in manure, or helping his father birth a rotting lamb from inside an ewe.

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But car dealers will learn more about how self-sufficient they can be in the coming months.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• competent 
• confident 
• efficient 
• self-supporting 
• self-sustaining