self-reliant

comparative more self-reliant · superlative most self-reliant

1. Reliant upon oneself; trusting to one's own powers or judgment.

   1 more example

   The Constitution deliberately makes the President and the Congress competitors as well as partners. The Founding Fathers created an elaborate system of checks and balances to keep each partner self-reliant while still assuring their interdependence. No brief account can fully capture the complexity of this relationship, in which each partner contributes his own share of stubbornness, pride, hostility, warmth, suspicion, skill, and affection.

   1971, Lyndon Johnson, “Bite the Bullet”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 438

   Synonyms: self-sufficient