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Definition of "self-defeating" [self-defeating]

  • Injurious to one's or its own purposes or welfare: "American officials will find it harder than ever to ward off self-defeating protectionist measures” ( George R. Packard). (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.

Use "self-defeating" in a sentence
  • "Tocqueville thought the greatest long-term threat to democracy in America would be the tyranny of a majority seduced into self-defeating short-term thinking by excessive democratic largesse."
  • "The thing is that while Frum might be right (and I highly recommend “Dead Right” because I think he did an excellent job of diagnosing a lot of the problems that conservatives had in trying to reduce the size, scope and cost of government – a lot of which remains true), a lot of us who are nominally in the conservative movement think that this sort of strategy is ultimately self-defeating."
  • "Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has weighed in on the fierce budget battle now gripping Washington, warning deep cuts could be "self-defeating" to the "still-fragile recovery"."
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