personal independence

Meaning

1. 1noununcountable

   The state of being able to make your own decisions and take care of yourself without needing help from others.

   Grammar: Uncountable: say personal independence, not a personal independence.

   Patterns

   • gain personal independence
   • lose personal independence
   • promote personal independence

   Learning to cook and manage money gave her a sense of personal independence.

   The program helps people with disabilities achieve greater personal independence.

   He valued his personal independence too much to ask his parents for money.

Common combinations

a sense of personal independence

Moving to a new city gave him a strong sense of personal independence.

achieve personal independence

The charity helps young adults achieve personal independence.

financial independence

She worked hard to reach financial independence.

promote independence

Good teachers promote independence in their students.

Synonyms and how they differ

self-reliance

Self-reliance emphasizes not needing help from others, while personal independence also includes the freedom to make your own choices.

autonomy

Autonomy is a more formal word often used for groups or regions; personal independence is about an individual's life.

freedom

Freedom is a general word for being free; personal independence specifically refers to managing your own life.

Opposites

Word family

independent adjective

Not needing help from others; able to make your own decisions.

independently adverb

In a way that shows you do not need help from others.

Commonly confused: personal independence or independence?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “personal independence”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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