autodidactic

American  

[aw-toh-dahy-dak-tik] / ˌɔ toʊ daɪˈdæk tɪk /

adjective

1. relating to or being a person who learns or has learned a subject without the benefit of a teacher or formal education; self-taught.

   I am self-motivated, self-sufficient, and autodidactic—all products of a childhood on an Alaskan homestead.

---

Other Word Forms

• autodidactically adverb

Etymology

Origin of autodidactic

autodidact ( def. ) + -ic

Explanation

If you teach yourself calculus and how to speak Hindi, you are autodidactic, or someone who is self-taught. Use the adjective autodidactic to describe a person who learns things on her own, from books or videos or by practicing skills, rather than in a traditional school setting. Someone who is autodidactic — an autodidact — isn't necessarily opposed to taking a class or consulting an expert, but tends to prefer learning in a self-directed way. The Greek root word is autodidaktikos, which means "self-taught."

Example Sentences

A self-assured, autodidactic singer, songwriter, producer and engineer, Tems has a rare combination of curiosity about every moving part in her music and the charisma to bring it to the world onstage.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2024

On the advice of a castmate, Mr. Connery began an autodidactic education to improve his acting.

From Washington Post • Oct. 31, 2020

When it is, he’s designed a sake-inclination flow chart for some autodidactic adventuring, about which he said one evening, “I can’t help it — I’m a nerd.”

From Seattle Times • Aug. 10, 2019

What these young men seem to want, above all else, is to be remembered as autodidactic outlaws, martyrs who were distinctive enough to stand out from the herd.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 29, 2019

The mother began our culture in that epoch in which, like the man, she was autodidactic.

From The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day by Chamberlain, Alexander F.