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self-educated

self-educated

4 4.6
A person who learns most things on their own, not at school
  • adjective
  • /ˌsɛlfˈɛdʒʊˌkeɪtɪd/
translation icon : autodidacta
  • Eric Swain is a self-educated game critic.
  • self-educated blacksmith

Examples

  • The famously self-educated Lincoln is an enthusiastic lover of theater.

  • Self-educated students have a high level of problem-solving skills and abilities.

    Blog text (17)
  • So he was self educated and helped raise his siblings.

  • He was a self-educated man.

  • And he's entirely self-educated, you know.

  • He is self-educated, and really knows a multitude of things.

  • That is Abraham Lincoln, a self-educated statesman who has abolished slavery and will go on to end the war and save the Union.

  • Thomas Davenport, inventor of the electric motor, was a self-educated blacksmith with a passion for reading.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Jack VanDyke is a self-educated student of the city's cycling history who works at a local bike space called The Hub of Detroit.

    Blog text (11)
  • She became aself-educated expert in history by reading books and articles on her own.

Synonyms

autodidactic
vsself-educated
1 9.6

Learning things on their own without formal lessons

is the plain, everyday expression rather than a technical term

How Educated

well-educated
40 3.9
educated
36 3.2
self-educated
4 4.6
unschooled
3 5.5

Surface Forms

self-educated positive

Morphology

self-educated = educated (transparent) = self + educated

Formed by the productive prefix 'self-' plus the adjective 'educated', clearly meaning 'educated by oneself'.

Etymology

Self-educated combines self ('oneself') and educated (the same root you see in education, meaning 'to be taught'), so it means someone who learned by their own effort rather than at a school.