Definition of "self-imposed" [self•-im•posed]

• Imposed by oneself on oneself; voluntarily assumed or endured: self-imposed exile. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Schultz appeared on the set of his show Wednesday looking somber, and delivered a nearly four-minute apology before exiting on what he called a self-imposed hiatus."
• "Fundamentalists began to reemerge from their self-imposed exile with the founding of the neo-evangelical movement in the wake of the Second World War."
• "These were terrible burdens to carry as a nation, and they were self-imposed."