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self-de·feat·ing | \ ˌself-di-ˈfē-tiŋ 
, -dē- \
, -dē- \Definition of self-defeating
: serving or tending to defeat oneself or itself : counterproductive: such as
a : acting to defeat its own purpose
a self-defeating argument You kind of realize that violence can be a self-defeating strategy, because it just gives the other guy an incentive to attack you back in revenge.— Stephen Pinker
b : being or involving an attitude of defeatism Procrastinators tend to be more stressed than other people—even before they start procrastinating. According to a recent study, that's possibly because they have self-defeating thoughts like, "I'm simply too stupid to benefit from more studying, so I'll just hang out on Facebook."— Shana Lebowitz
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More Definitions for self-defeating
self-defeating
adjectiveEnglish Language Learners Definition of self-defeating
: meant to solve a problem but actually causing the same or another problem : causing more problems than it solves
: preventing you from doing or achieving something
See the full definition for self-defeating in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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The first known use of self-defeating was in 1812
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