Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Having achieved success or recognition by one's own efforts.
 - adjective Made by itself or oneself.
 
from The Century Dictionary.
- Made by one's self or itself.
 - Having attained success in life without extraneous advantages, especially without material aid from one's family: as, a self-made man.
 
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Made by one's self.
 - adjective a man who has risen from poverty or obscurity by means of his own talents or energies.
 
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective   Of a person, having 
achieved success by one's ownefforts . - adjective Of a thing, made by oneself instead of bought or taken over.
 
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective having achieved success or recognition by your own efforts
 
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The adult cast is solid with Kate Winslet winning the Emmy as the self-made, self-loathing career gal and Guy Pearce snagging a supporting actor Emmy for his work as a dissolute man about town.
Michael Giltz: DVDs: Should Steven Soderbergh Retire From Directing? Michael Giltz 2012
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Not only will you sample award-winning 17-year-old Single Highland Malts and visit the bonded warehouses, but you'll go home with your own self-made 100 ml bottle.
Pam Grout: Master The Art Of Blending Scotch At Glengoyne Distillery Pam Grout 2011
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Wait you can't hardly find it anymore, because the self-made buisness man is penalized in taxes to death.
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Contrastingly, Sarah Palin and Michele Bachman – Republicans – are entirely self-made women.
Michele Bachmann and the glass ceiling of American politics | Cheri Jacobus 2012
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Wait you can't hardly find it anymore, because the self-made buisness man is penalized in taxes to death.
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Both have "rags to riches" stories, rising from poverty to become two of 14 self-made billionaire women in the world.
Patricia Benesh: Oprah and J.K. Rowling: Two Game Changers Go Heart-To-Heart Patricia Benesh 2010
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As a self-made millionaire who made his fortune as a real estate developer, Fred Wilpon would be the first to tell you that neither Rome nor pennant contenders were built in a day.
Billy Altman: Mets Say A Change Is Gonna Come. We'll See. Billy Altman 2010
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Indeed only four of the 42 women, or 1% of all Forbes 400 members, are self-made including Gap
America's Richest Women Katie Evans 2010
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As a self-made millionaire who made his fortune as a real estate developer, Fred Wilpon would be the first to tell you that neither Rome nor pennant contenders were built in a day.
Billy Altman: Mets Say A Change Is Gonna Come. We'll See. Billy Altman 2010
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And he is famous for much more than being famous: the embodiment of the self-made man, he is feted at home as an entrepreneur and job-creator, owning two recording studios, a micro-finance company and a stake in a leading nightclub.
Youssou N'Dour: the singer who changed his tune | Observer profile 2012
 
BrainyBabe commented on the word self-made
People would say of him excusingly that he was a self-made man, the inference being that almost anyone else would have made a better job of it. - ''Yashima, or, The Gorgeous West'' by R T Sherwood, 1931.
December 24, 2008