self-help

[ self-help, self- ]

noun

1. the act of providing for or helping or the ability to provide for or help oneself without assistance from others.
2. Law. the act or right of remedying a wrong, without resorting to legal proceedings.
3. the acquiring of information or the solving of one's problems, especially those of a psychological nature, without the direct supervision of professionals or experts, as by independent reading or by joining or forming lay groups that are devoted to one's interests or goals.

adjective

1. of or relating to a book, article, home study course, or the like, offering an individual information or counseling intended to be personally beneficial or profitable:

   self-help books on overcoming shyness.

self-help

noun

1. the act or state of providing the means to help oneself without relying on the assistance of others
2. 1. the practice of solving one's problems by joining or forming a group designed to help those suffering from a particular problem
   2. ( as modifier )

      a self-help group

Other Words From

• self-helper noun
• self-helpful self-helping adjective
• self-helpful·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-help¹

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

It combines pickup techniques supposedly inspired by evolutionary psychology with self-help pseudoscience.

From The Daily Beast

Bookstores are stocked with self-help books telling girls how to bag a millionaire.

From The Daily Beast

I feel for the writer, Ed Docx, (author of the brilliant novel Self Help).

From The Daily Beast

Sure, there is an array of “self-help” guides available in the world.

From The Daily Beast

Anderson says some of the men who come to his self-help organization have waited over 60 years to reveal their abuse.

From The Daily Beast

Oh, what power ever made us so tender, so incapable of self-help, as to have us undergo and feel such terrific suffering!

From Project Gutenberg

The spirit of independence or self-help is the one thing necessary.

From Project Gutenberg

Excellent Victory indeed; sharp striking, swift self-help on our part.

From Project Gutenberg

The individualist virtue of 'self-help' was not confined to successful money-making or to the wealthier classes.

From Project Gutenberg

Side by side with this self-help there has long existed a comprehensive system of free mutual help.

From Project Gutenberg