self-defeating
12
6.6
- adjective
- /ˌsɛlf dɪˈfiːtɪŋ/
:
contraproducente
- I think it's a very dangerous, self defeating misconception to suppose that if something is important, someone else is going to tell me about it.
- self-defeating behavior
- self-defeating thoughts
- self-defeating strategy
I said, I'd think you're self defeating to send this off yet.
- I said, I'd think you're self defeating to send this off yet.
- So it would be in some ways a self defeating action on a grand scale without one actually realizing how self defeating that was.
- I think it's a very dangerous, self defeating misconception to suppose that if something is important, someone else is going to tell me about it.
- It's I mean, that to me sounds kind of self defeating.
- It is the most self defeating timid bunch of bullshitters that ever were.
- In other words, when you doubt that a desire will come true, essentially you're sending out a self defeating intention which the field computes.
- The bar genuinely never has been so low, which is it really does blow my mind sort of the self defeating cynicism mindset.
- How are people getting in the grips of what from somebody standing on the outside it just seems it seems self defeating.
- And that to me is self defeating because if you look very carefully, I, I had this, this psychologist that had this child and the child was, quote, an orphan.
Examples
-
People have the ability to change their emotions by telling themselves more rational and less self-defeating sentences.
Academic text (1992) -
The tendency is there, and though it is a self-defeating one, I think it must be taken into account.
Academic text (1997) -
Only for them is it self-defeating, even on its own terms.
Academic text (2007) -
Well, I consider it self-defeating to plan in terms of retreat.
-
But too often, precision is bought at the price of clarity, which is a self-defeating bargain.
Academic text (1995) -
Strategic policy measures will, in most instances, prove largely self-defeating if everyone else adopts similar policies.
Academic text (1993) -
The report also asked the federal government to avoid "tuition tax credits, which are regressive and self-defeating."
Academic text (2005) -
Why do we persist in these practices even after we realize their self-defeating futility?
Academic text (1991) -
Thus, Vedder (2004: 21) notes that efforts to make college more affordable may be "ultimately self-defeating."
Academic text (2016) -
Complaining about your job while not looking for a new one can be a self-defeating approach to finding happiness.
Synonyms
61
6.8
Doing something that makes the problem worse instead of better
41
6.3
Tending to cause harm to the person who does it or to their life
How Self-Defeating
Surface Forms
Morphology
self-defeating = defeating (semi-transparent) = self + defeat + ing
The structure is clear as self + defeating, but the evaluative sense 'working against one's own goals' is slightly idiomatic.
Etymology
Self-defeating is made of self ('yourself') and defeat ('to beat'), so it gives a clear image of you 'beating' or harming yourself. That's why a self-defeating action is one that works against your own goals instead of helping them.