self-defeating

[ self-di-fee-ting, self- ]

/ ˈsɛlf dɪˈfi tɪŋ, ˌsɛlf- /

serving to frustrate, thwart, etc., one's own intention or interests: His behavior was certainly self-defeating.

Words nearby self-defeating

It would seem like a self-defeating move for a government contractor to become a tax exile.

Big Pharma Skips to the U.K. to Avoid Taxes |Daniel Gross |May 2, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Even that most fundamental American activity of pursuing happiness can become a self-defeating drive.

How Depression Could Save Your Life |Nick Romeo |March 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
This isn't a policy in any coherent sense of that word; it's an artifact of resentment, a self-defeating relic from another era.

Obama Should End America’s Stupidest Foreign Policy: Isolating Cuba |Robert Shrum |February 26, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
From a clinical point of view, Dr. Foehl opined, this behavior would be labeled as a “self-defeating personality disorder.”

Why Antics by Several Republicans Suggest the Party Needs Therapy |Dean Obeidallah |January 31, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

I believe absolutely and positively that violence is self-defeating.

We Need MLK’s Revolutionary Spirit |Roland S. Martin |January 20, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Not only would such an attempt involve impossible inquiries, but the attempt would be self-defeating.

Social Rights And Duties |Leslie Stephen
No, it would be self-defeating folly to make Wagner appear less in order to have Strauss appear more.

How to Appreciate Music |Gustav Kobb
Piecemeal operations within each lesser drainage area can be self-defeating or, at the very least, needlessly expensive.

Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to 2006 |Various
Born of crass ignorance and self-defeating greed, it cannot bear the light.

American Political Ideas Viewed From The Standpoint Of Universal History |John Fiske

self-defeating

(of a plan, action, etc) unable to achieve the intended result