Self-proclaimed describes a legal title that is recognized by the declaring person but not necessarily by any recognized legal authority. It can be the status of a noble title or the status of a nation. The term is used informally for anyone declaring themselves to any informal title.

Examples

• Micronations such as Sealand are small, self-proclaimed entities that claim to be independent sovereign states but which are not acknowledged by any recognized sovereign state.^[1]
• A self-proclaimed monarch such as Jean-Bédel Bokassa.
• Self-styled order, a chivalric order with unrecognised claim of historical legacy.

Usage

Taking to her blog to blast Melissa Etheridge in poetic prose, the self-proclaimed 'Hollywood Farm Girl' said she was "blindsided" by the timing of the dissolution of their domestic partnership.^[2]

In March, officials said that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks, probably would be tried before a military tribunal and that a decision appeared to be imminent.^[3]