self-limiting

[ self-lim-i-ting ]

adjective

1. limiting oneself or itself:

   a self-limiting authority.

2. (of a disease) self-limited.

Other Words From

• self-limi·tation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-limiting¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: self-limiting.

From Slate

The laboratory-produced mosquitoes carry a "self-limiting" gene that prevents female mosquito offspring from surviving to adulthood when they mate.

From BBC

Dobbs was never self-limiting to abortion—it was a save-the-date card for the religious right’s plan to come for the rest of our reproductive freedoms.

From Slate

While the oxidation of tantalum is usually self-limiting -- a key reason for its relatively long coherence time -- the team wanted to explore strategies to further restrain oxidation to see if they could improve the material's performance.

From Science Daily

In the season of giving, getting, and evaluating self-improvement advice, there’s a line between over-optimism and self-limiting skepticism.

From Slate