self-taught
Americanadjective
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having become as specified by teaching oneself, without the aid of formal education.
She’s a self-taught photographer who sells her work online.
-
learned by oneself.
Particularly impressive is his self-taught mastery of the guitar.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of self-taught
First recorded in 1715–25
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.
The road to perfecting her self-taught craft was studded with trial, error and copious online video tips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Otero Alcantara, a self-taught performance artist, sculptor and painter, rose to prominence in 2020 as leader of the San Isidro protest movement of artists and intellectuals.
From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026
McCartney's father Jim infused the house with music, bashing out self-taught tunes on an old piano.
From BBC ● May 27, 2026
Stables is entirely self-taught as an archaeologist and began excavating the site out of a personal fascination with the village's prehistoric past.
From Science Daily ● May 20, 2026
He could hardly be bothered with the progressively lunatic ramblings of a self-taught monk in Brno.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
