Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Control of one's emotions, desires, or actions by one's own will: "You think yourself a miracle of sensibility; but self-control is what you need” ( Mary Boykin Chesnut).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Self-command; self-restraint.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Control of one's self; restraint exercised over one's self; self-command.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior
- n. the act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses
Etymologies
- self- + control (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Recent research suggests that "Willpower" may exacerbate the very problem it is trying to reduce by promoting the idea of self-control as a limited resource.”
“Kerby Miller, the leading historian of Irish emigrants to North America, notes that Catholic discipline easily merged with American demands: “church teachings, as reflected in sermons and parochial school readers, commanded emigrants and their children to industry, thrift, sobriety, and self-control—habits which would not only prevent spiritual ruin but also shape good citizens and successful businessmen.””
“The “wild Irish” were “unstable as water,” while the English exemplified order and self-control.”
“Dancers were allowed only to exhibit “self-control and self-government” in their movements.”
“So the Founding Fathers redefined freedom as self-control and built a political system around it called democracy.”
“Sometimes it takes all my resolution and power of self-control to restrain myself from butting my head against the wall.”
“It takes way more self-control to get me to the gym than it does even to get me past a blank page, so you have my complete admiration.”
“Do we as a species have the political will to exercise self-control and to show a bit of humility?”
“Indeed, Akst betrays a certain contempt for modern science and its insights into self-restraint, as revealed by this statement: "I discovered that the very best guides to weakness of the will held no tenure, had no graduate degrees, and dealt with the problem of self-control without magnetic resonance imaging devices for peering into the skulls of undergraduates.”
“Akst's tour through Homer and Aristotle and Plato and Socrates is fairly entertaining, but one doesn't come away with much that's helpful in dealing with the dilemma of self-control.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘self-control’.
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The things they carried (List 2)
Listening to this as an audio book for the second time. Tim O'Brien uses simple words and phrases to great effect. Very few unfamilar and big words . The writing style reminds me of words from Joh...
The, Things, They, Carried, meant, fond, By necessity,, presented to him, far beyond, against the brick..., reaching, taut and 2940 more...
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INTERP - VOCABULARY
The vocabulary of conference interpreting. I commend this list to those who want to know more about the profession and to those who wish to organize their knowledge about the profession. To aspirin...
retour language, A-language, B-language, C-language, relay language, take sy on relay, language booth, booth meeting, mic, mike, mission, freelance interpr... and 2086 more...
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self-
list of self-s
self-discovery, self-awareness, self-actualization, self-respect, self-esteem, self-understanding, self-portrait, self-centered, self-righteousness, self-worth, self-reference, self-exam and 34 more...
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Literarie: Mussolini: My Part In His ...
Bits from the predictably odd and chaotic Spike Milligan book of this title. He writes in diary-style about his service in the British Army's World War II campaign in Italy.
"I admit the way...b4, matelot, asleep, landing, fags, spam, ash wednesday, derv, nebelwurfer, the shits, hole in the ground, cookhouse and 79 more...
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favorite words and phrases
words i like
grace, free will, rest, blessing, help, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and 3 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for self-control.
bilby "We trudge around the streets looking for a reasonable cafe. We find one on a wide one-time populous street, now rather run down, on it is a Trattoria Tuscano, 'Allied Soldiers Welcomes'. Inside, about twelve tables, all covered in white paper, sparsely laid out with cutlery. A few tables are occupied by what look like potential Mafia recruits, all huddled over their tables talking in low voices, an act of great self-control for Italians."
- Spike Milligan, 'Mussolini: My Part In His Downfall.' Apr 18, 2009