self-defeating

adjective

self-de·​feat·​ing ˌself-di-ˈfē-tiŋ 

-dē-

: serving or tending to defeat oneself or itself : counterproductive: such as

a

: acting to defeat its own purpose

a self-defeating argument

You kind of realize that violence can be a self-defeating strategy, because it just gives the other guy an incentive to attack you back in revenge.

—Stephen Pinker

b

: being or involving an attitude of defeatism

Procrastinators tend to be more stressed than other people—even before they start procrastinating. According to a recent study, that's possibly because they have self-defeating thoughts like, "I'm simply too stupid to benefit from more studying, so I'll just hang out on Facebook."

—Shana Lebowitz

Examples of self-defeating in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For the United States, as the world’s biggest economy, and its second-largest exporter, that would be a self-defeating outcome. —John Cassidy, The New Yorker, 9 Sep. 2024

Jose said that would create a self-defeating pattern and urged him to reconsider. —Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 13 Aug. 2024

Explaining its brilliance beyond that feels futile at best and self-defeating at worst. —Indiewire Staff, IndieWire, 12 Aug. 2024

Online, Biden was a self-defeating candidate—able to attract a critical mass of attention, but only in the worst way. —Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 21 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1812, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

self-defeating

adjective

self-de·​feat·​ing

ˌself-di-ˈfēt-iŋ

: acting to defeat its own purpose