self-inflicted

adjective

Inflicted by oneself.

“Police said they found the driver deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot injuries.”

Meanings

adjectiveself-inflicted (not comparable)
  1. not comparableInflicted by oneself.

    Police said they found the driver deceased from a self-inflicted gunshot injuries.

    4 more examples

    An expert in the self-inflicted wound, his attacks frequently miss their target in favour of reminding you of his own failings.

    When the salarians discovered them, the krogan were a brutal, primitive species struggling to survive a self-inflicted nuclear winter. The salarians culturally uplifted them, teaching them to use and build modern technology so they could serve as soldiers in the Rachni War.

    2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Krogan Codex entry

    One huge self-inflicted wound the industry is now suffering from is the lack of coupling compatibility. Up to the 1980s virtually everything had compatible drawgear on a given route, so there was every chance of pushing a failed train out of the way. Since privatisation, compatibility has been lost and in the last few years operators seem to have gone out of their way to avoid compatibility.

    2019 October, Ian Walmsley, “Cleaning up”, in Modern Railways, page 43

    A man shot dead 12 people in a rampage in a small town in Montenegro before dying from self-inflicted injuries early on Thursday, authorities said, in one of the tiny Balkan nation’s worst mass killings.

    2025 January 1, Reuters, “Suspect in Montenegro shooting dies from self-inflicted injuries after killing at least 12 people”, in CNN

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. Englishinflicted
  9. Englishself-inflicted

From self- + inflicted.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian самопричинен
  • самопричинен (samopričinen)Inflicted by oneself
Chinese 自招的, 自討的 /自讨的
  • 自招的Inflicted by oneself
  • 自討的 /自讨的Inflicted by oneself
  • 自己釀成的 /自己酿成的Inflicted by oneself
  • 自己造成的Inflicted by oneself
  • 自作自受的Inflicted by oneself
  • 自我施加的Inflicted by oneself
  • 施於自身的 /施于自身的Inflicted by oneself
Finnish itse aiheutettu
  • itse aiheutettuInflicted by oneself
German selbstgemacht
  • selbstgemachtInflicted by oneself
Hungarian saját magának okozott, önkéntes
  • saját magának okozottInflicted by oneself
  • önkéntesInflicted by oneself
Norwegian selvpåført
  • selvpåførtInflicted by oneself
Norwegian Bokmål selvpåført
  • selvpåførtInflicted by oneself
Cite this entry
APA

self-inflicted. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-inflicted

MLA

“self-inflicted.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-inflicted. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-inflicted,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-inflicted.

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