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

Being coherent means adding up to one clear signal, rather than acting in confusing, self-defeating ways. —Ginny Whitelaw, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025

The new National Geographic documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story begins with a bit of a self-defeating joke. —Jordan Hoffman, EW.com, 21 June 2025

But will self-defeating emotional patterns block their growth? —Usa Today, USA Today, 18 June 2025

But the move can also be seen as yet another tack away from internationalism, and an indication of ultimately self-defeating contempt for international norms and institutions. —Time, 17 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1812, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for self-defeating

• overeating
• overheating
• superheating
• accreting
• competing
• completing
• concreting
• defeating
• deleting
• depleting
• entreating
• preheating

Kids Definition

self-defeating

adjective

self-de·​feat·​ing

ˌself-di-ˈfēt-iŋ

: acting to defeat its own purpose