self-reliance.

The ability or willingness to depend on your own judgment and efforts rather than on others.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• develop self-reliance
• practical self-reliance

On the page

The journey taught her self-reliance without teaching her to refuse help.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. 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. Writing functions: character, interpretation. Commonness: moderately common.