bootstrap

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

And his book also took a decidedly conservative view – describing them as chronic spendthrifts, dependent on welfare payments and mostly failing to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

From BBC

The sale, announced last week, caps an impressive career by Ng, a scrappy, diminutive septuagenarian who used her bootstrapped community newspapers “to empower the Asian American community” as she put it this week.

From Seattle Times

But in the U.S., the ethos of grinding and pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is ubiquitous, both in the country’s beginnings and our current environment of always-on technology and work hours.

From Seattle Times

“We gotta get our bootstraps together and get back on the drawing board, look at the film and try to make the best of these last two games.”

From Los Angeles Times

Some are goofily anachronistic, as when Johnson mutters a few times about pulling himself up by his bootstraps like everyone else.

From Salon