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. 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.

2. 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.

3. Neal Shearing:

   This would be a self-defeating mistake.

4. Joe Biden:

   I have no illusions about Iran. The regime has long sponsored terrorism and threatened our interests. They've ruthlessly killed hundreds of protesters, and they should be held accountable for their actions, but there is a smart way to counter them - and a self-defeating way. Trump's approach is demonstrably the latter.

5. Nazifullah Salarzai:

   The relationship between Dr. Ghani and Dr. Abdullah is smooth and they are on the same page when it comes to making the choices, whoever is chosen has to be accountable to the president and work with the president every day, so if there were differences over the choice of officials, the government just couldn't function, and that would be self-defeating.