self-directed

adjective

Directed, independently by oneself without external control or constraint; directed for oneself.

Similar
autonomousself-reliantindependent
OriginEnglish directed ← Middle English self- ← Old English self- →
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Meanings

adjectiveself-directed (comparative more self-directed, superlative most self-directed)

comparative more self-directed · superlative most self-directed

  1. Directed, independently by oneself without external control or constraint; directed for oneself.
  2. Directed at oneself.

    I see a lot of self-directed anger on the part of the straight wives: What's wrong with me that I can't keep this man attracted to me? What's wrong with me in the first place for attracting a gay man?

    1976 December 11, J. D. Sitler, David Griffiths, “Marriage: Straight Or On The Rocks?”, in Gay Community News, volume 4, number 24, page 9

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar
autonomous

adjective(of persons) free from external control and constraint in e.g. action and judgment

Similar
autonomousself-reliantindependent
Also see
autocephalousautonomousindependentself-reliant

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
  4. Old Englishself
  5. Old Englishself-
  6. Middle Englishself-
  7. Englishself-
  8. Englishdirected
  9. Englishself-directed

From self- + directed.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

self-directed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-directed

MLA

“self-directed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-directed. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-directed,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-directed.

Source: self-directed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.