self-perpetuating

[ self-per-pech-oo-ey-ting, self- ]

adjective

1. continuing oneself in office, rank, etc., beyond the normal limit.
2. capable of indefinite continuation.

self-perpetuating

adjective

1. (of machine, emotion, idea, etc) continuing or prevailing without any external agency or intervention

Other Words From

• self-per·petu·ation noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-perpetuating¹

First recorded in 1815–25

Example Sentences

The Rockströms’ real father, Johan, is the Swedish climate scientist who has helped to develop the concept of climate tipping points, when particular large-scale environmental changes are thought to become self-perpetuating and irreversible beyond a certain threshold.

From BBC

It raises the question of how much the Pelosi mystique in 2024—at yet another apex just when she’d convinced the world she was semi-retired—is based on a sound foundation or self-perpetuating.

From Slate

"Our goal was to close this gap in our knowledge. For our study, we compiled the available academic literature on those processes that can influence and accelerate the thawing of permafrost. Combining it with our own data analysis, we assessed all current findings on thawing processes in terms of whether and, if so, on which spatial scale -- local, regional, global -- they could lead to self-perpetuating thawing and therefore to a 'tipping' in connection with a given level of warming."

From Science Daily

It’s not unlikely, as WyerframeZ surmised, that someone constructed a low-effort bot network that could hold up a self-perpetuating money-embezzlement scheme: Generate a bunch of free images and accounts, have them buy and boost one another in perpetuity, inflate metrics so that the “art” gets boosted by DeviantArt and reaches real humans, then watch the money pile up from DeviantArt revenue-sharing programs.

From Slate

In the end, our perception that some dogs are better sniffers than others may be a self-perpetuating prophecy: “In this case, it’s not necessarily that their noses are exceptionally good,” Karlsson says, “but that they’re interested in using their noses to help us complete something that we want them to do.”

From Science Magazine

Related Words

• boundless
• ceaseless
• constant
• continual
• continuous
• countless
• eternal
• incessant
• infinite
• interminable
• limitless
• monotonous
• never-ending
• perpetual
• unbroken
• unending
• unfathomable
• uninterrupted
• unlimited
• untold