self-description

noun

self-de·scrip·tion ˌself-di-ˈskrip-shən

plural self-descriptions

: the act or an instance of describing oneself

… earned a postwar degree from Harvard Law School, forever beggaring his self-description as "just a country lawyer."—

Kurt Andersen

… he is, by self-description, the son of Vietnamese refugees …—

Joyce Carol Oates

also : a self-descriptive statement

wrote a short self-description

Her self-description of "an outright gross cynic yet total Pollyanna" seems apt. —

Amanda Saxton

Examples of self-description in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

That self-description is the title of a new documentary by the filmmakers Karen O’Connor, Maeve O’Boyle and Miri Navasky, which opens in theaters on October 6. O’Connor has known Baez since 1989, and their decades-long friendship earned the crew rare access. —

Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Oct. 2023 The Apple logo prime led people to act more creatively on subsequent study tasks compared to subliminal IBM logo priming—but only when creativity was a part of the participants’ self-descriptions. —

Nita Farahany, WIRED, 14 Mar. 2023 The national press has largely accepted Lightfoot’s self-description as progressive, but others on the ground have experienced her mayoralty differently. —

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, The New Yorker, 14 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1804, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler

The first known use of self-description was in 1804

See more words from the same year

Cite this Entry

Style

“Self-description.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-description. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

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