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Showing results for self-doubt. Search instead for self+doubt.
Synonyms

self-doubt

American  
[self-dout] / ˈsɛlfˈdaʊt /

noun

  1. lack of confidence in the reliability of one's own motives, personality, thought, etc.

self-doubt British  

noun

  1. the act or state of doubting oneself

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • self-doubting adjective

Etymology

Origin of self-doubt

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

That anecdote tells you a great deal about This Music May Contain Hope, a concept album about overcoming heartbreak and self-doubt and internet trolls and stupid men.

From BBC • Mar. 26, 2026

The self-doubt and the knocks to your confidence, those were the hardest things I've had to go through.

From BBC • Mar. 24, 2026

He would presumably say that he just wants to purge “the West” of its toxic self-doubt.

From Salon • Feb. 8, 2026

Early on, I had enormous self-doubt, but I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 27, 2026

Anxiety, self-doubt, and bickering replaced that night’s buoyant optimism as Bolles scrutinized each of them anew, trying to figure out who to keep in the boat and who to demote.

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.