self-educated
Americanadjective
adjective
-
educated through one's own efforts without formal instruction
-
educated at one's own expense, without financial aid
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-educated
First recorded in 1810–20
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.
Galton was largely self-educated, an odd man who studied fingerprints and claimed to have proved through testing that praying doesn’t help matters.
From Slate ● Mar. 19, 2026
His novel “Caleb Williams” introduces an embattled young hero, born poor and largely self-educated, who perceives justice in exalted terms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 9, 2026
John Spargo, a self-educated British stonemason who emigrated to New York in 1901, became an unlikely political theorist of the movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 5, 2025
Humphries excelled at art and English, and largely ignored the rest of the school curriculum, later writing in Who's Who? that he was "self-educated" and attended Melbourne Grammar School.
From BBC ● Apr. 22, 2023
The only child of immigrant parents, orphaned at the age of twelve, self-educated, hard-working Samuel Westing saved his laborer's wages and bought a small paper mill.
From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin
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.
