self-questioning

[ self-kwes-chuh-ning, self- ]

noun

1. review or scrutiny of one's own motives or behavior.

self-questioning

adjective

1. doubting or questioning oneself or one's abilities

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-questioning¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

Hemby, who has helped write hits for Miranda Lambert, Maren Morris, Kelly Clarkson and Lady Gaga, had a session with Jarosz as a teenager and collaborated with her again on a new song, the self-questioning “Good at What I Do.”

From New York Times

A certain humility in the face of the field’s uncertainties also seems to help; on a different questionnaire, therapists whose care was more successful gave responses that “reflected self-questioning about professional efficacy in treating clients.”

From New York Times

After finishing his graduate studies in sociology at Cambridge University, England, Adler was in San Francisco founding education technology startups when a 2013 visit to the grave of his homeless uncle precipitated self-questioning over his view of people living on the street as “problems to be solved rather than people to be loved.”

From Los Angeles Times

The lyrics, delivered in Sampha’s eerie falsetto and George Riley’s confessional breathiness, offer paradoxes and self-questioning: “I’m changing, moving, losing, higher,” Riley sings.

From New York Times

Even in the quietest, most self-questioning songs on “The Record,” boygenius sounds like its members are egging on one another, cheering the boldest moves and pushing past collaboration toward synergy.

From New York Times

Related Words

• contemplation
• meditation
• reflection
• scrutiny
• self-examination
• soul-searching