noun Psychology.
- the achievement of one’s full potential through creativity, independence, spontaneity, and a grasp of the real world.
noun
- psychol the process of establishing oneself as a whole person, able to develop one’s abilities and to understand oneself
n.1939, from self- + actualization. Popularized, though not coined, by U.S. psychologist and philosopher Abraham H. Maslow (1908-1970).