SELF-RULING Synonyms: 55 Similar and Opposite Words

self-ruling

adjective

ˌself-ˈrü-liŋ

Definition of self-ruling

as in democratic

of, relating to, or favoring political democracy having rid itself of the yoke of colonialism, the new nation chose to be a self-ruling state

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in independent

not being under the rule or control of another was granted special status as a self-ruling province

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of self-ruling But the real change might be in East Asia, where Kim’s belligerence and rising fears regarding China’s designs on self-ruling Taiwan had already reenergized the nuclear debate. — Charlie Campbell, Time, 28 Mar. 2026 Like Assad before him, Sharaa now faces complex negotiations toward bringing these self-ruling territories under his command. — Tom O'Connor, MSNBC Newsweek, 11 Dec. 2025 In recent years, Beijing has ramped up economic, diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan – a self-ruling democracy the Chinese Communist Party claims as its own despite having never governed it. — Eric Cheung, CNN, 13 Mar. 2023 In a meeting earlier with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Raisi expressed support for China's crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong and claim to self-ruling democratic Taiwan. — Bradford Betz, Fox News, 17 Feb. 2023 See All Example Sentences for self-ruling

Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-ruling

Adjective

The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2014 that Hungary had sacked Baka for criticism of the ⁠government and that his removal did damage to democratic freedoms in Hungary.

— Reuters, NBC news, 8 Aug. 2026
This straightforward policy solution would bring more people into the democratic project.

— Susan Ostermann, Mercury News, 1 Aug. 2026

Definition of democratic

Adjective

Council members anticipate hearing evidence from an independent investigator and other witnesses, said council member LaKeisha Gantt.

— Reed Williams, AJC.com, 8 Aug. 2026
Joe Conti, an independent researcher and physics enthusiast based in Massachusetts, is inviting eclipse observers across Iceland and Spain to capture the optical mystery on their smartphones as part of a citizen science project.

— Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Aug. 2026

Definition of independent

Adjective

Hardware learns signal speeds The approach could be useful in systems that need to process changing data locally, including autonomous vehicles, robots and wearable devices.

— Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 8 Aug. 2026
By contrast, about 90 percent of the distance driven by Perseverance has been autonomous thanks to its (slightly) more modern Vision Compute Element.

— Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 8 Aug. 2026

Definition of autonomous

Adjective

It’s been around since the Cold War era, when then leader Chiang Kai-shek became wary of an attempt on the island by the Chinese Communist Party, which claims Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory, despite never having controlled it.

— Brad Lendon, CNN Money, 7 Aug. 2026
Washington would almost certainly respond by tightening access to advanced chips, compute and cloud infrastructure, while building more sovereign AI capacity of its own.

— Will Conaway, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of sovereign

Adjective

The highlight of mine was the rabbit doppio, a large ravioli stuffed with braised meat and cheese in separate but adjacent cells, and the beef tenderloin was a perfect anchor.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 8 Aug. 2026
No distributions were ever made by the Children's Trust to any of its beneficiaries, and the beneficial shares of that trust were not divided into separate shares for each of the beneficiaries as was also required by the 2020 amendment.

— Jay Adkisson, Forbes.com, 7 Aug. 2026

Definition of separate

Browse Nearby Words

self-rule

self-ruling

self-sacrifice

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“Self-ruling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-ruling. Accessed 13 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of self-ruling

adjective

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