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self-styled

self-styled

9 7.3
A person who calls themselves an expert without official authority
  • adjective
  • /ˌsɛlfˈstaɪld/
translation icon : autoproclamado
  • The self-styled expert claimed to have all the answers during the debate.
  • self-styled modern
  • self-styled researcher
  • self-styled group

Because you would almost forget, by the way, that some self styled religious political officials talk.

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Examples

  • So says the Bosnian expatriate and self-styled researcher, Semir Osmanagic, who's leading the dig.

    Academic text (2006)
  • Although he is a self-styled "revolutionary," there has never been a socially transformative aspect to his worldview.

    Academic text (2003)
  • Should any self-styled group be able to define itself as a community?

    Academic text (1999)
  • The self-styled German free law movement had dissolved completely by the time World War I broke out.

    Academic text (2016)
  • The "Concerned Citizens of Shawano," a self-styled group

    Academic text (2002)
  • Their leader was a warlord, a self styled general named Ali.

  • And there was Emil DeLancey, the self-styled "Snowbird of Miami."

    Fiction book (1995)
  • The hottest news in Washington today is about Preston Tucker, that promotion-happy self-styled genius and revolutionary auto maker.

  • Beasley, an ex-convict and self-styled street minister from Akron, could face the death penalty if convicted.

    Blog text (12)
  • In 1923, Sidney Mashbir, for example, helped organize the Pan Pacific Society, a group of self-styled cosmopolitan men against militarists.

    Academic text (2010)

Synonyms

self-proclaimed
vsself-styled
27 5.8

A person who says they are an expert or leader without people's acceptance

is about presenting oneself as having a title without official acceptance
self-appointed
vsself-styled
16 6.0

A person who gives themselves a role without being chosen

focuses on presenting oneself as having a title rather than assigning oneself a duty
soi-disant
vsself-styled
  • Formal
9.9

A person who claims to have a title or skill but has no real proof

is about claiming a role or status lacking official or accepted authority
self-constituted
vsself-styled
  • Formal
8.9

Formed by people without official permission or support

refers to presenting oneself as having a title, not the act of forming oneself

Antonyms

2.3

Approved by a person or group in charge

1.3

Approved and considered correct by most people in a group

How Official

official
2.3
appointed
  • Formal
3.4
self-styled
9 7.3
unofficial
75 3.8

Surface Forms

self-styled positive

Morphology

self-styled = self + style (transparent) = self + style + ed

The compound is built from 'self' + 'styled' (where 'styled' = 'style' + -ed) and the meaning 'describing oneself as...' follows directly from its parts.

Etymology

The word self-styled is made of self ('by oneself') and styled ('called a certain way'), so it gives the image of someone who has named or shown themselves as they wish. So, a self-styled expert is a person who calls themselves an expert, often without official proof or wide acceptance.