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
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
Shana LebowitzExamples of self-defeating in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But sometimes the optics make the self-defeating nature of the task clearer than others.
—Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2025
Stories from three places — rural Salinas, suburban Orange County and Los Angeles, the state’s biggest city — show how a shelter system that’s supposed to offer a safe haven instead fuels a self-defeating cycle of homelessness.
—Calmatters, The Mercury News, 26 Feb. 2025
Forcing the State Department to cancel subscriptions to the press just the latest example of petty, self-defeating behavior by a media figure who should know better.
—Baltimore Sun Editorial Board, Baltimore Sun, 21 Feb. 2025
The director, Frederik Louis Hviid, opens the movie with a display of self-defeating virtuosity: a robbery filmed in a single take entirely from the inside of an armored van.
—Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-defeating
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Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2025
Stories from three places — rural Salinas, suburban Orange County and Los Angeles, the state’s biggest city — show how a shelter system that’s supposed to offer a safe haven instead fuels a self-defeating cycle of homelessness.
—Calmatters, The Mercury News, 26 Feb. 2025
Forcing the State Department to cancel subscriptions to the press just the latest example of petty, self-defeating behavior by a media figure who should know better.
—Baltimore Sun Editorial Board, Baltimore Sun, 21 Feb. 2025
The director, Frederik Louis Hviid, opens the movie with a display of self-defeating virtuosity: a robbery filmed in a single take entirely from the inside of an armored van.
—Ben Kenigsberg, New York Times, 20 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-defeating
Cite this Entry
“Self-defeating.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-defeating. Accessed 1 Apr. 2025.
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