as in independent
able to take care of oneself or itself without outside help
she had to take a higher-paying job in order to be self-supporting
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Recent Examples of self-supporting
Public schools in Florida are funded on a per-student basis, and schools that operate at about half capacity or less typically do not generate enough money to be self-supporting, instead draining the district’s budget.
—
Steven Walker, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Jan. 2026
Despite concerns that failure to be in the blue reading group in first grade dooms a child’s adult options to a career in coal mining (or worse, a lesser UC), both have been completely self-supporting (and not in the coal-mining industry) since graduating from college.
—Inga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
The homes' cutting-edge features are designed to feed into a self-supporting energy system that powers each neighborhood with a community battery and has the capability to operate independently during a grid outage.
—Medgina Saint-Elien, House Beautiful, 23 Mar. 2023
Steven Walker, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Jan. 2026
Despite concerns that failure to be in the blue reading group in first grade dooms a child’s adult options to a career in coal mining (or worse, a lesser UC), both have been completely self-supporting (and not in the coal-mining industry) since graduating from college.
—Inga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 Aug. 2025
The homes' cutting-edge features are designed to feed into a self-supporting energy system that powers each neighborhood with a community battery and has the capability to operate independently during a grid outage.
—Medgina Saint-Elien, House Beautiful, 23 Mar. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-supporting
independent
Adjective
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The movies that would be honored here, by contrast, were bolder than the Spirits usually go, resulting in a truly independent raft of winners.—
Film Editor,
Los Angeles Times,
16 Feb. 2026
-
Justices must also remain sufficiently independent to make decisions unpopular with executive and legislative officials.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
16 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Self-supporting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-supporting. Accessed 17 Feb. 2026.
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