as in self-actualization
the feeling of being happy and satisfied because you are doing something that fully uses your abilities and talents
She found self-fulfillment by starting her own business.
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Recent Examples of self-fulfillment
And increasingly, women are choosing solitude and self-fulfillment over unsatisfying relationships.
—
Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
Founders have a wide range of personal reasons for making the pivot, from seeking self-fulfillment to meeting a strategic need in their next chapter.
—Nina Ajemian, Fortune, 24 July 2025
Turner-Seed’s own writing lays bare a struggle for self-fulfillment, to reconcile the traditional values pushed by her Jewish immigrant parents with a restless need to discover and make her own way.
—Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025
The film explores the dilemma of choosing between self-fulfillment and familial obligations, showing how Joyce learns to embrace her mother’s modern family business and reflecting on the challenges of a globalized generation.
—Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 8 Apr. 2025
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Maslow's model highlights the importance of psychological and self-fulfillment needs.
—Raquel Gomes, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
These cultures tend to view divorce as a justifiable and often necessary step toward self-fulfillment.
—Mark Travers, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2025
This is Mascaro’s most humane film to date, which isn’t to say that August Winds and Neon Bull weren’t also grounded in the individual’s struggle for self-fulfillment outside the strictures of bourgeois circumscribed society.
—Jay D. Weissberg, Deadline, 18 Feb. 2025
Thus, Mill’s central political concern was not how to create order out of chaos but how to ensure that the beneficiaries of order could achieve self-fulfillment.
—John Micklethwait, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2014
Melissa Fleur Afshar, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Oct. 2025
Founders have a wide range of personal reasons for making the pivot, from seeking self-fulfillment to meeting a strategic need in their next chapter.
—Nina Ajemian, Fortune, 24 July 2025
Turner-Seed’s own writing lays bare a struggle for self-fulfillment, to reconcile the traditional values pushed by her Jewish immigrant parents with a restless need to discover and make her own way.
—Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2025
The film explores the dilemma of choosing between self-fulfillment and familial obligations, showing how Joyce learns to embrace her mother’s modern family business and reflecting on the challenges of a globalized generation.
—Rafa Sales Ross, Variety, 8 Apr. 2025
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Maslow's model highlights the importance of psychological and self-fulfillment needs.
—Raquel Gomes, Forbes.com, 8 Apr. 2025
These cultures tend to view divorce as a justifiable and often necessary step toward self-fulfillment.
—Mark Travers, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2025
This is Mascaro’s most humane film to date, which isn’t to say that August Winds and Neon Bull weren’t also grounded in the individual’s struggle for self-fulfillment outside the strictures of bourgeois circumscribed society.
—Jay D. Weissberg, Deadline, 18 Feb. 2025
Thus, Mill’s central political concern was not how to create order out of chaos but how to ensure that the beneficiaries of order could achieve self-fulfillment.
—John Micklethwait, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2014
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-fulfillment
- self-realization
- self-discovery
- self-exploration
- meditation
- introspection
- self-reflection
- self-examination
Noun
-
This isn’t some crytpic way of talking about what happens without spoiling it, about some sort of self-realization.—
Bill Goodykoontz,
AZCentral.com,
21 Oct. 2025
-
The prosecutor challenged a defense claim that Torres ended the abuse in an act of self-realization.—
Robert Salonga,
Mercury News,
29 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Experts recommend several steps for self-discovery and improvement.—
Matt Fuchs,
Time,
4 Nov. 2025
-
That a-ha moment — one that pushed him toward a path of self-discovery and self-acceptance — has been a prominent theme in Riccoboni’s journey as an artist and as a person.—
Michael James Rocha,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
2 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Long takes emphasize the mental labor of Hujar’s self-exploration, and Sachs’s framing (with cinematography by Alex Ashe) crowds the pair together to evoke the intimacy of their talk.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Many of his clients are women, often in their 30s to 60s, seeking meaningful self-exploration.—
Matthew Kayser,
USA Today,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Just like in mindfulness meditation, simply observe your mental processes without judgment.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
5 Nov. 2025
-
Weil argues that following his anti-inflammatory food pyramid and taking up practices such as meditation, yoga, and tai chi can help prevent and treat these diseases of chronic inflammation.—
Jason Liebowitz,
The Atlantic,
4 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
Not because this 2-2 draw at Sunderland provides cause for significant introspection.—
James McNicholas,
New York Times,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Flora remembered his high school experience with a mix of introspection and relief.—
Evan Moore
November 7,
Charlotte Observer,
7 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
With words infallibly falling short, Pritam mingled realism with a fragmentary style of narration that meshes together social encounters, violent episodes, vivid metaphors, disturbing dreams, memories, intimate self-reflections, and introspection on society.—
JSTOR Daily,
JSTOR Daily,
30 Oct. 2025
-
The book’s journey through the brain ends at the frontal pole, a region involved in self-reflection — thinking about thinking.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
18 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Mother’s turbulent self-examination is incited by the revelation of Sister Agnieszka’s pregnancy in the film’s first Act.—
Ritesh Mehta,
IndieWire,
27 Aug. 2025
-
This disciplined self-examination is the foundation for refining skills and advancing toward mastery.—
Richard Menger MD MPA,
Forbes.com,
18 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Self-fulfillment.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-fulfillment. Accessed 16 Nov. 2025.
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