Word.ws English Dictionary

raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps

raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps is the alternative form of pull oneself up by one's bootstraps.

Meaning of pull oneself up by one's bootstraps

Verb

pull oneself up by one's bootstraps (third-person singular simple present pulls oneself up by one's bootstraps, present participle pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps, simple past and past participle pulled oneself up by one's bootstraps)

  1. (idiomatic) To begin an enterprise or recover from a setback without any outside help; to succeed only by one's own efforts or abilities.
    • We can't get a loan, so we'll just have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

Forms of raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps

third-person singular presentraises oneself up by one's own bootstraps
present participleraising oneself up by one's own bootstraps
past participleraised oneself up by one's own bootstraps
pastraised oneself up by one's own bootstraps

Questions about raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps

What is raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps the alternative form of?
Raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps is the alternative form of pull oneself up by one's bootstraps.

Words near raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps in the dictionary

  1. raise one's glass
  2. raise one's hand
  3. raise one's head
  4. raise one's voice
  5. raise oneself up by one's bootstraps
  6. raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps
  7. raise red flags
  8. raise someone's consciousness
  9. raise someone's hackles
  10. raise someone's shackles
  11. raise someone's shag

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps (page history and authors); pull oneself up by one's bootstraps (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “raise oneself up by one's own bootstraps.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/raise_oneself_up_by_one%27s_own_bootstraps. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.