self-respecting

adjective

Having self-respect; having pride or knowledge of one's own worth.

“No self-respecting man would tolerate such an insult.”

Similar
dignifiedself-respectfulproud

Meanings

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

comparative more self-respecting · superlative most self-respecting

  1. Having self-respect; having pride or knowledge of one's own worth.

    No self-respecting man would tolerate such an insult.

    2 more examples

    Now, when you awfulize you go beyond that and tell yourself, instead “It's horrible, awful and terrible!” You then mean several things, all of which are clearly unprovable and which any self-respecting Martian with an IQ of 100 could easily see through.

    2010, Michael E. Bernard, Rationality and the Pursuit of Happiness: The Legacy of Albert Ellis

    Not since a journalist morphed into Al Pacino in The Devil’s Advocate has a metamorphosis been so jarring. Of course, there were clues: Michael kicked a puppy in the very second episode, and no self-respecting Elysium so closely resembles a chichi outdoor mall in Pasadena.

    2017 September 20, Sophie Gilbert, “The Good Place Is Still TV Heaven”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 07 Mar 2018

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivehaving or showing self-esteem

Similar
dignifiedself-respectfulproud
Also see

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. Englishrespecting
  9. Englishself-respecting

From self- + respecting.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch zichzelf respecterend
  • zichzelf respecterendhaving self-respect
Polish ambitny
  • ambitnyhaving self-respect
Vietnamese tự trọng, tự tôn
  • tự trọnghaving self-respect
  • tự tônhaving self-respect
Cite this entry
APA

self-respecting. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-respecting

MLA

“self-respecting.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-respecting. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-respecting,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-respecting.

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