autodidact.

Someone who has gained substantial knowledge or skill mainly through their own study.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• gifted autodidact
• an autodidact in mathematics

On the page

An autodidact, she learned restoration techniques from manuals and patient experiment.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal. Forms: Singular autodidact; plural autodidacts. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Commonness: uncommon.