"self-sustaining" meaning in English

See self-sustaining in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more self-sustaining [comparative], most self-sustaining [superlative]
Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé? Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *selbaz Old English self Old English self- Middle English self- English self- English sustaining English self-sustaining From self- + sustaining. Etymology templates: {{ety|en|:af|self-|sustaining|text=+|tree=1}} Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *swé? Proto-Indo-European *selbʰ-der. Proto-Germanic *selbaz Old English self Old English self- Middle English self- English self- English sustaining English self-sustaining [Appendix:Glossary#derived_terms|Derived]] from", "terms" : [ { "children" : [ { "terms" : [ { "is_uncertain" : true, "children" : [ ], "lang_name" : "Proto-Indo-European", "term" : "*swé", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "ine-pro" } ], "keyword_label" : "From", "keyword" : "from" } ], "lang_name" : "Proto-Indo-European", "term" : "*selbʰ-", "status" : "inline", "lang" : "ine-pro" } ], "keyword" : "derived" } ], "lang_name" : "Proto-Germanic", "term" : "*selbaz", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "gem-pro" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "lang_name" : "Old English", "term" : "self", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "ang" } ], "keyword_label" : "From", "keyword" : "from" } ], "lang_name" : "Old English", "term" : "self-", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "ang" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "lang_name" : "Middle English", "term" : "self-", "status" : "inline", "lang" : "enm" } ], "keyword_label" : "Inherited from", "keyword" : "inherited" } ], "lang_name" : "English", "term" : "self-", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "en" }, { "children" : [ ], "lang_name" : "English", "term" : "sustaining", "status" : "missing", "lang" : "en" } ], "keyword_label" : "From", "is_group" : true, "keyword" : "affix" } ], "lang_name" : "English", "term" : "self-sustaining", "status" : "ok", "lang" : "en" }" data-lang="en" data-title="self-sustaining"> From self- + sustaining. Head templates: {{en-adj}} self-sustaining (comparative more self-sustaining, superlative most self-sustaining)
  1. Able to provide for one's own needs without help from others; self-sufficient.
    Sense id: en-self-sustaining-en-adj-RAyDr1Hx Categories (other): English entries referencing missing etymons, English entries with etymon, English terms prefixed with self-, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries referencing missing etymons: 35 35 31 Disambiguation of English entries with etymon: 32 32 35 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with self-: 25 40 35 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 27 34 40
  2. Able to provide for one's own needs without help from others; self-sufficient.
    (of a nuclear chain reaction) Able to sustain itself without the need for additional fuel.
    Sense id: en-self-sustaining-en-adj-1hjhPI7B Categories (other): English entries referencing missing etymons, English entries with etymon, English terms prefixed with self-, Pages using etymon with no ID, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries referencing missing etymons: 35 35 31 Disambiguation of English entries with etymon: 32 32 35 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with self-: 25 40 35 Disambiguation of Pages using etymon with no ID: 31 45 24 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 27 34 40
  3. Opposing or rejecting exterior influence; independent.
    Sense id: en-self-sustaining-en-adj-DMGngpAV Categories (other): English entries referencing missing etymons, English entries with etymology texts, English entries with etymology trees, English entries with etymon, English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with self-, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Pages with etymology trees, Pages with etymon, Terms with German translations, Terms with Greek translations, Terms with Irish translations, Terms with Occitan translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries referencing missing etymons: 35 35 31 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology texts: 27 27 45 Disambiguation of English entries with etymology trees: 27 27 45 Disambiguation of English entries with etymon: 32 32 35 Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 22 22 55 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with self-: 25 40 35 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 20 22 57 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 27 34 40 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 27 31 42 Disambiguation of Pages with etymology trees: 23 26 50 Disambiguation of Pages with etymon: 24 28 47 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 17 21 63 Disambiguation of Terms with Greek translations: 14 14 71 Disambiguation of Terms with Irish translations: 25 28 46 Disambiguation of Terms with Occitan translations: 21 25 54 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 19 22 60
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Related terms: self-sufficient Translations (able to provide for one's own needs): autark (German), unabhängig (German), selbstständig (German), niezależny (Polish), samodzielny (Polish)
Disambiguation of "able to provide for one's own needs": 50 50 1
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      "word": "autark"
    },
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      "word": "unabhängig"
    },
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      "word": "selbstständig"
    },
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}

Download raw JSONL data for self-sustaining meaning in English (5.9kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.