self-handicap
self-handicap verb: to avoid making an effort, or to introduce deliberate obstacles to one's success, so as to prevent potential failure from hurting one's self-esteem.
Verb
self-handicap (third-person singular simple present self-handicaps, present participle self-handicapping, simple past and past participle self-handicapped)
- To avoid making an effort, or to introduce deliberate obstacles to one's success, so as to prevent potential failure from hurting one's self-esteem.
Noun
self-handicap (countable and uncountable, plural self-handicaps)
- The act of one who self-handicaps, or an obstacle thus introduced.
Forms of self-handicap
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | self-handicaps |
| present participle | self-handicapping |
| past participle | self-handicapped |
| past | self-handicapped |
| Noun | |
| plural | self-handicaps |
Origin of self-handicap
From self- + handicap.
Questions about self-handicap
- What does self-handicap mean?
- Self-handicap means to avoid making an effort, or to introduce deliberate obstacles to one's success, so as to prevent potential failure from hurting one's self-esteem.
- What part of speech is self-handicap?
- Self-handicap can be a verb or a noun.
- What is the past tense of self-handicap?
- The past tense of self-handicap is self-handicapped.
Words near self-handicap in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: self-handicap (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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “self-handicap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/self-handicap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.