self-made

[ self-meyd ]

adjective

1. having succeeded in life unaided:

   He is a self-made man.

2. made by oneself.

self-made

adjective

1. having achieved wealth, status, etc, by one's own efforts
2. made by oneself

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-made¹

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

In the early years, the big powers were often rough, self-made men such as Jack Warner or Louis B. Mayer.

From The Daily Beast

He was a self-made man, and a self-destroyed man—so he wrote his own punch line.

From The 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.

From The Daily Beast

My father was a self-made man as we use the term, but he was more than that – much more.

From The Daily Beast

But Bennett, a religious IDF commander and self-made multimillionaire, failed us miserably on two leadership issues.

From The Daily Beast

She wondered if he would take his youth in his bald-headed season, like the self-made American millionaire.

From Project Gutenberg

He was a notable as well as what is called “a self-made” man, a fact of which he never boasted but I think was a little proud.

From Project Gutenberg

Dr. Bias deserves the more credit for his progress in life, as he is entirely self-made.

From Project Gutenberg

I'd like to think it wasn't, I'd like to believe that democracy always will be as it always has been—a self-made failure.

From Project Gutenberg

A self-made man, he had been obliged to postpone marriage and family life to a comparatively advanced age.

From Project Gutenberg