self-determination

American  

[self-di-tur-muh-ney-shuhn, self-] / ˈsɛlf dɪˌtɜr məˈneɪ ʃən, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

1. determination by oneself or itself, without outside influence.

2. freedom to live as one chooses, or to act or decide without consulting another or others.

3. the determining by the people of the form their government shall have, without reference to the wishes of any other nation, especially by people of a territory or former colony.

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self-determination British  

noun

1. the power or ability to make a decision for oneself without influence from outside

2. the right of a nation or people to determine its own form of government without influence from outside

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Other Word Forms

• self-determined adjective
• self-determining adjective

Etymology

Origin of self-determination

1670–80; 1915–20 self-determination for def. 3

Example Sentences

Ironically it was Greenland’s first experience under U.S. control during World War II that supercharged their claim to self-determination.

From The Wall Street Journal

Fifty years of lip service to self-determination for Greenland doesn’t add up, if it ever did.

From The Wall Street Journal

While details of the agreement made at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos remained scant, many Greenlanders, who fiercely defend their right to self-determination, were disappointed.

From Barron's

Zionism is, in essence, a communitarian nationalism: the assertion of a people’s right to self-determination in its ancestral homeland.

From The Wall Street Journal

“For us, ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable,” Lokke Rasmussen said.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• autonomy
• home rule
• self-government
• self-reliance
• self-rule
• self-sufficiency
• separation
• sovereignty