Meaning & use
self-driven person
Last updated
Meanings
phrasecountable
someone who works hard and starts tasks on their own, without needing to be pushed by others.
Grammar: Countable phrase: a self-driven person, two self-driven people.
Patterns
- a self-driven person
- a highly self-driven person
A self-driven person sets goals and reaches them without being told.
The manager said she was a self-driven person who needed very little supervision.
As a self-driven person, he taught himself programming at night.
phrasecountabledisapproving
a person whose actions or choices are controlled mainly by their own strong feelings or desires.
Grammar: Countable; often slightly critical in tone.
Patterns
- a self-driven person
He is a self-driven person, led more by ambition than by advice.
Some see her as a self-driven person who rarely asks others for help.
Word forms
| plural | self-driven people |
|---|
Common combinations
- a highly self-driven person
- She is a highly self-driven person who rarely waits for instructions.
- a truly self-driven person
- A truly self-driven person keeps learning after the course ends.
- a self-driven person with goals
- He is a self-driven person with clear goals for the next five years.
- a self-driven person by nature
- Being a self-driven person by nature, she started the project alone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- self-motivated
- The most natural one-word choice in the same meaning; it sounds slightly more positive and formal.
- ambitious
- Focuses on wanting success, while self-driven focuses on acting without being pushed.
- proactive
- Stresses acting before problems appear; a self-driven person may simply work hard.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: self-driven person or self-driving?
self-driven person vs self-driving
Self-driving describes a vehicle that operates without a human driver; self-driven describes a determined person.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'self-driven person' most naturally?
Choose one answer.
The phrase is countable and describes a person's character, so option A fits. Option D is wrong because 'they are' needs the plural 'self-driven people', and the others use the phrase as a verb or with the wrong structure.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-driven person”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.