Synonyms for self-defeating
self-de·feat·ing

Princeton's WordNetRate this antonym:5.0 / 1 vote

1. self-defeatingadjective

   acting to defeat its own purpose

   "it is self-defeating...to ignore the progress of events"

   Antonyms:
   successful

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:2.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "self-defeating":

   counterproductive, counter-productive, self-destructive, defeatist

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How to use self-defeating in a sentence?

1. Goldman Sachs:

   We continue to view a coordinated production cut as highly unlikely and ultimately self-defeating, despite the sharp bounce in oil prices, we do not expect such a cut will occur unless global growth weakens sharply from current levels, which is not our economists' forecast.

2. Samantha Power:

   This notion that accountability can wait because peace has to come first is just an inherently flawed and self-defeating notion.

3. Daphne Oz:

   I think all moms are constantly juggling and are always running out of hours in the day, and our to-do lists are never checked off, and our inboxes are always overflowing, and it can feel really exhausting and self-defeating to see your to-do lists are never checked off, the reality is if you are being graded, which you are not… it’s OK if your grade fluctuates day to day. It’s OK if you’re an A mother today and a B employee and C wife and tomorrow all of those things change. I think it’s important for us to be a little bit more forgiving with ourselves and a little more forgiving with each other.

4. Robert M. Pursig, "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance":

   I think that their flight from and hatred of technology is self-defeating. The Buddha rests quite as comfortably in the circuits of a digital computer of the gears of a cycle transmission as he does at the top of a mountain or in the petals of a flower. To think otherwise is to demean the Buddha--which is to demean oneself.

5. Warren Eller:

   The thing that you lose without a permit is if you're traveling between states, you no longer have the right to carry a firearm with you, it's self-defeating on two sides.