autodidact
noun
au·to·di·dact ˌȯ-tō-ˈdī-ˌdakt 
-dī-ˈdakt
-dī-ˈdakt -də-ˈdakt
: a self-taught person
was an autodidact who read voraciously
autodidactic
ˌȯ-tō-dī-ˈdak-tik
adjective -də-
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Lyonne is an autodidact and a film obsessive, who peppers conversations with references to silent cinema, Jewish mysticism, nineteen-seventies Hollywood moguls, New York City trivia, and Lou Reed lyrics. 
Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2022 But Korelitz has made her young autodidact far more conflicted. Ron Charles, Washington Post, 31 May 2022 Friends and colleagues describe Williams as an autodidact. Brent Lang, Variety, 11 May 2022 Like Hutchinson, Kempton rises to the rhetorical occasion, flush with the pride of the autodidact. The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2022 But Greenwood has made up for it with an autodidact's zeal. Joshua Rothkopf, EW.com, 19 Jan. 2022 Coe, an autodidact and the son of the outlaw-country musician David Allan Coe, relishes his role as scholar-enthusiast-gadfly, and his zeal is the show’s animating force. Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 13 Dec. 2021 In a land of promoters and dreamers, Thaddeus Lowe was a standout visionary, a scientific autodidact who came to California more than 20 years after his service as creator and chief aeronaut of the Union Army balloon corps. Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2021 Patricia Lockwood is an autodidact in her late thirties who did not attend college because her outré oxymoronic father, a Catholic priest, spent her tuition money on a guitar that had been designed for Paul McCartney. Gemma Sieff, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2021 See More
Rachel Syme, The New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2022 But Korelitz has made her young autodidact far more conflicted. Ron Charles, Washington Post, 31 May 2022 Friends and colleagues describe Williams as an autodidact. Brent Lang, Variety, 11 May 2022 Like Hutchinson, Kempton rises to the rhetorical occasion, flush with the pride of the autodidact. The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2022 But Greenwood has made up for it with an autodidact's zeal. Joshua Rothkopf, EW.com, 19 Jan. 2022 Coe, an autodidact and the son of the outlaw-country musician David Allan Coe, relishes his role as scholar-enthusiast-gadfly, and his zeal is the show’s animating force. Sarah Larson, The New Yorker, 13 Dec. 2021 In a land of promoters and dreamers, Thaddeus Lowe was a standout visionary, a scientific autodidact who came to California more than 20 years after his service as creator and chief aeronaut of the Union Army balloon corps. Los Angeles Times, 18 May 2021 Patricia Lockwood is an autodidact in her late thirties who did not attend college because her outré oxymoronic father, a Catholic priest, spent her tuition money on a guitar that had been designed for Paul McCartney. Gemma Sieff, Harper's Magazine, 27 Apr. 2021 See More Word History
Etymology
Greek autodidaktos self-taught, from aut- + didaktos taught, from didaskein to teach
First Known Use
1784, in the meaning defined above
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