self-invention
noun
self-in·ven·tion
ˌself-in-ˈven-shən 
plural self-inventions
: the act or an instance of inventing or creating one's identity or conception of oneself
her self-invention as a pop star
Bob Dylan has surpassed Walt Whitman as the defining American artist, celebrating the capacity for self-invention as the highest form of freedom.—
Cass R. Sunstein
Cass R. Sunstein… I've been poring online … over certain performances, interesting myself in those moments when [David] Bowie seems on the cusp of one of his celebrated self-inventions …—Brian Dillon
Brian DillonExamples of self-invention in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Still, the pure rascality in these extravagant self-inventions shouldn’t be overlooked.
—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Once chosen, the members of Flo began an intense process of self-invention.
—The New York Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 May 2025
Her improbable success and unlikely downfall, and what her story says about belief and self-invention and fame, are in the lifeblood of Los Angeles.
—Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2025
Even in isolation, Graber displayed a future tech founder’s knack for self-invention.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
Traditional societies structured courtship and pairing firmly, but in modernity many of us enjoy freedom and self-invention.
—Jaron Lanier, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025
But that downplays her own vast resources of self-invention.
—Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 28 July 2024
Here, self-invention is an act of brutal violence with no discernable survivors.
—Chloe Schama, Vogue, 18 July 2024
Paris is a battered place of freedom, self-invention, cigarettes, and deep talk that springs from dark-eyed experience.
—Bart Bull, SPIN, 20 June 2023
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Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 4 Aug. 2025
Once chosen, the members of Flo began an intense process of self-invention.
—The New York Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 May 2025
Her improbable success and unlikely downfall, and what her story says about belief and self-invention and fame, are in the lifeblood of Los Angeles.
—Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times, 24 Apr. 2025
Even in isolation, Graber displayed a future tech founder’s knack for self-invention.
—Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2025
Traditional societies structured courtship and pairing firmly, but in modernity many of us enjoy freedom and self-invention.
—Jaron Lanier, The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2025
But that downplays her own vast resources of self-invention.
—Louisa Thomas, The New Yorker, 28 July 2024
Here, self-invention is an act of brutal violence with no discernable survivors.
—Chloe Schama, Vogue, 18 July 2024
Paris is a battered place of freedom, self-invention, cigarettes, and deep talk that springs from dark-eyed experience.
—Bart Bull, SPIN, 20 June 2023
Cite this Entry
“Self-invention.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-invention. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.
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