SELF-COMMAND

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does self-command mean? 

• SELF-COMMAND (noun)
  The noun SELF-COMMAND has 1 sense:

1. the trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior

  Familiarity information: SELF-COMMAND used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SELF-COMMAND (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

possession; self-command; self-control; self-possession; self-will; will power; willpower

Hypernyms ("self-command" is a kind of...):

firmness; firmness of purpose; resoluteness; resolution; resolve (the trait of being resolute)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "self-command"):

nerves (control of your emotions)

presence of mind (self-control in a crisis; ability to say or do the right thing in an emergency)

 Context examples 

Perhaps I intended you to say so, but I meant self-command.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Nobody would have thought so, to see her sitting upright, with her arms folded; but she had wonderful self-command.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Elinor perfectly understood her, and was forced to use all her self-command to make it appear that she did NOT.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He turned away to recover himself, and when he spoke again, though his voice still faltered, his manner shewed the wish of self-command, and the resolution of avoiding any farther allusion.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Then, with an extraordinary effort of aristocratic self-command, he sat down and sank his face in his hands.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You began the evening well, Charlotte,” said Mrs. Bennet with civil self-command to Miss Lucas.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I was aware also that I should often lose all self-command, all capacity of hiding the harrowing sensations that would possess me during the progress of my unearthly occupation.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He had been able to retain his self-command whilst the poor lady was present, for he knew her state and how mischievous a shock would be; he actually smiled on her as he held open the door for her to pass into her room.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Mrs Musgrove was of a comfortable, substantial size, infinitely more fitted by nature to express good cheer and good humour, than tenderness and sentiment; and while the agitations of Anne's slender form, and pensive face, may be considered as very completely screened, Captain Wentworth should be allowed some credit for the self-command with which he attended to her large fat sighings over the destiny of a son, whom alive nobody had cared for.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I can have no self-command without a motive.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)