as in amateur
having skills or knowledge acquired through one's own efforts without formal training
a self-instructed carpenter who does quality work
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-instructed
Adjective
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Webster learned that the FBI, media organizations, and amateur internet sleuths were using facial-recognition software to identify those who’d stormed the Capitol.—
Jamie Thompson,
The Atlantic,
6 Jan. 2026 -
But to unmask the killer in a mansion filled with ticking clocks and suspects, amateur detective Eileen must first get round discouragement from Lady Caterham, played by Helena Bonham Carter, and Sherlock star Martin Freeman as superintendent Battle.—
Etan Vlessing,
HollywoodReporter,
6 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Born in 1970 in Herber City, Utah, Allen is largely self-taught, having begun his artistic career by whittling figures and selling them from atop an ironing board on the streets of SoHo in New York.—
News Desk,
Artforum,
24 Nov. 2025
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Despite becoming one of the most popular guitarists in the world, Frehley was famously self-taught and never had any formal instruction.—
Jacqueline Weiss,
PEOPLE,
18 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Over the past decade, she’s cultivated a reputation for a new kind of defiant, autodidactic pop stardom.—
Holden Seidlitz,
New Yorker,
5 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Self-instructed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-instructed. Accessed 9 Jan. 2026.
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