as in autodidactic
having skills or knowledge acquired through one's own efforts without formal training
the cellist's success is all the more remarkable because she is self-taught
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Recent Examples of self-taught
David MacMartin, a Westview science teacher who taught her honors and Advanced Placement biology, said most of Fan’s skills with the work were self-taught.
—
Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
Where Obama is a product of Ivy League schools, Lincoln was largely self-taught.
—Jim Williams, CBS News, 21 Feb. 2026
Born in 1970 in Herber City, Utah, Allen is largely self-taught, having begun his artistic career by whittling figures and selling them from atop an ironing board on the streets of SoHo in New York.
—News Desk, Artforum, 24 Nov. 2025
Despite becoming one of the most popular guitarists in the world, Frehley was famously self-taught and never had any formal instruction.
—Jacqueline Weiss, PEOPLE, 18 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-taught
Jemma Stephenson, San Diego Union-Tribune, 23 Feb. 2026
Where Obama is a product of Ivy League schools, Lincoln was largely self-taught.
—Jim Williams, CBS News, 21 Feb. 2026
Born in 1970 in Herber City, Utah, Allen is largely self-taught, having begun his artistic career by whittling figures and selling them from atop an ironing board on the streets of SoHo in New York.
—News Desk, Artforum, 24 Nov. 2025
Despite becoming one of the most popular guitarists in the world, Frehley was famously self-taught and never had any formal instruction.
—Jacqueline Weiss, PEOPLE, 18 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-taught
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-taught
Adjective
-
Over the past decade, she’s cultivated a reputation for a new kind of defiant, autodidactic pop stardom.—
Holden Seidlitz,
New Yorker,
5 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Inside the house, a 33-year-old amateur gunsmith who goes by the pseudonym Yeezy wondered what to do.—
Jack Crosbie,
Rolling Stone,
17 June 2026
-
In hacker circles, such moves are considered amateur mistakes.—
Dan Goodin,
ArsTechnica,
17 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Self-taught.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-taught. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
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