self-styled

English

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 styled

English self-styled

From self- + styled.

Adjective

self-styled (not comparable)

1. Claimed by the recipient, as a title one gave to oneself.

   Synonyms: self-proclaimed, self-appointed, self-professed, self-ordained, soi-disant, wannabe, tryhard

   This self-styled king of the hill must prove himself before the title has any worth.

   • 1847, Emily Chubbuck, Allen Lucas, the Self-made Man, page 152:

     “A more heartfelt word, notwithstanding its playfulness,” said the elder lady, “than some of those self-styled patriots, that come here to give us laws, would pronounce, I have no doubt.”

   • 2012 April 23, Angelique Chrisafis, “François Hollande on top but far right scores record result in French election”, in the Guardian‎^[1]:

     Partial results showed Hollande – a former Socialist party leader, rural MP and self-styled Mr Normal – with a clear lead at more than 28%, compared with Sarkozy on 27%.

   • 2021 February 2, Katharine Murphy, “Scott Morrison must heed the lesson of Donald Trump and slap down Craig Kelly”, in The Guardian‎^[2], archived from the original on 8 December 2022:

     If representation and recruitment is an objective, self-styled mavericks like Kelly and his Queensland sidekick George Christensen have some utility.

Translations

claimed by the recipient — see also self-proclaimed

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 自稱的 / 自称的 (zìchēng de), 自封的 (zìfēng de), 自詡的 / 自诩的 (zìxǔ de), 自任的 (zìrèn de)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: kotikutoinen (fi)
• French: autoproclamé (fr), soi-disant (fr)
• German: selbsternannt (de)
• Hindi: स्वघोषित (svaghoṣit)
• Macedonian: самопрогласен (samoproglasen)
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: autoproclamado (es), sedicente (es)