as in independent
able to take care of oneself or itself without outside help
she had to take a higher-paying job in order to be self-supporting
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Recent Examples of self-supporting
Public schools in Florida are funded on a per-student basis, and schools that operate at about half capacity or less typically do not generate enough money to be self-supporting, instead draining the district’s budget.
—
Steven Walker, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Jan. 2026
Despite concerns that failure to be in the blue reading group in first grade dooms a child’s adult options to a career in coal mining (or worse, a lesser UC), both have been completely self-supporting (and not in the coal-mining industry) since graduating from college.
—Inga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
The homes' cutting-edge features are designed to feed into a self-supporting energy system that powers each neighborhood with a community battery and has the capability to operate independently during a grid outage.
—Medgina Saint-Elien, House Beautiful, 23 Mar. 2023
Steven Walker, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Jan. 2026
Despite concerns that failure to be in the blue reading group in first grade dooms a child’s adult options to a career in coal mining (or worse, a lesser UC), both have been completely self-supporting (and not in the coal-mining industry) since graduating from college.
—Inga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
The homes' cutting-edge features are designed to feed into a self-supporting energy system that powers each neighborhood with a community battery and has the capability to operate independently during a grid outage.
—Medgina Saint-Elien, House Beautiful, 23 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-supporting
independent
Adjective
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The movies at Sundance Film Festival's swan song in Park City, Utah, were very on theme for the event, celebrating independent cinema with familiar faces in challenging fare, quirky examinations of youth and fascinating documentaries.—
Brian Truitt,
USA Today,
1 Feb. 2026
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The General Services Administration, an independent agency that manages federal buildings, has reached out to Fort Lauderdale to see if there’s any interest in purchasing the property, city officials say.—
Susannah Bryan,
Sun Sentinel,
1 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Self-supporting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-supporting. Accessed 4 Feb. 2026.
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