self-made

[ self-meyd ]

/ ˈsɛlfˈmeɪd /

adjective

having succeeded in life unaided: He is a self-made man.

made by oneself.

Words nearby self-made

self-limiting, self-liquidating, self-loader, self-loading, self-love, self-made, self-mailer, self-mastery, self-mate, self-medication, self-mortification

Origin of self-made

First recorded in 1605–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for self-made

In the early years, the big powers were often rough, self-made men such as Jack Warner or Louis B. Mayer.
Trustafarians Want to Tell You How to Live|Joel Kotkin|October 31, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He was a self-made man, and a self-destroyed man—so he wrote his own punch line.
Harry Shearer on Being Nixon, ‘The Simpsons Movie’ Sequel, and Why Obama Should Return His Nobel|Marlow Stern|October 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
We needed him to be wary, absorbed, and a little bit gruff, and he gamely complied, thereby furthering his own self-made legend.
Michael Musto: Lou Reed Made Me A Believer—In Transvestism, Prostitution, and Lou Reed|Michael Musto|October 28, 2013|DAILY BEAST
My father was a self-made man as we use the term, but he was more than that – much more.
My Eulogy for My Father, Murray Frum|David Frum|May 31, 2013|DAILY BEAST

But Bennett, a religious IDF commander and self-made multimillionaire, failed us miserably on two leadership issues.
Voting For Yair Lapid, Israel’s Maimonides|Rabbi Daniel Landes|February 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Isaac was a self-made man, a man ignorant of many things, religious, but uneducated.
The Divine Fire|May Sinclair
Sorg was a self-made man, who had accumulated considerable money in the tobacco business by energy and industry.
Cox--The Man|Roger W. Babson
The daughters of self-made men may well surpass in energy those settled on their lees.
The Long Vacation|Charlotte M. Yonge
The one is self-made, guided by vicious impulses; the other is the handiwork of God.
My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year|John Henry Jowett
You ought to give him credit for what he has accomplished, as he is a self-made man.
Lancashire Humour|Thomas Newbigging

British Dictionary definitions for self-made

self-made

adjective

having achieved wealth, status, etc, by one's own efforts

made by oneself

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012