SELF-DENIAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does self-denial mean? 

• SELF-DENIAL (noun)
  The noun SELF-DENIAL has 3 senses:

1. the trait of practicing self discipline

2. the act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses

3. renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others

  Familiarity information: SELF-DENIAL used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SELF-DENIAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The trait of practicing self discipline

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

self-denial; self-discipline

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

discipline (the trait of being well behaved)

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

asceticism; austerity; nonindulgence (the trait of great self-denial (especially refraining from worldly pleasures))

abstention; abstinence (the trait of abstaining (especially from alcohol))

continence; continency (the exercise of self constraint in sexual matters)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

self-control; self-denial; self-discipline

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

control (the activity of managing or exerting control over something)

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

abstinence (act or practice of refraining from indulging an appetite)

ascesis; asceticism (rigorous self-denial and active self-restraint)

mortification ((Christianity) the act of mortifying the lusts of the flesh by self-denial and privation (especially by bodily pain or discomfort inflicted on yourself))

Sense 3

Meaning:

Renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

abnegation; denial; self-abnegation; self-denial; self-renunciation

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

forgoing; forswearing; renunciation (the act of renouncing; sacrificing or giving up or surrendering (a possession or right or title or privilege etc.))

self-sacrifice; selflessness (acting with less concern for yourself than for the success of the joint activity)

 Context examples 

Now seriously, what have you ever known of self-denial and dependence?

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It was really amazing, for everyone seemed in a heavenly frame of mind, and self-denial was all the fashion.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Oh, Master Copperfield,” he said, with an air of self-denial, “my reading is hardly to be called study. I have passed an hour or two in the evening, sometimes, with Mr. Tidd.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Her diffidence, gratitude, and softness made every expression of indifference seem almost an effort of self-denial; seem, at least, to be giving nearly as much pain to herself as to him.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

His expensiveness is acknowledged even by himself, and his whole conduct declares that self-denial is a word hardly understood by him.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Her father's comfort was amply secured, Mrs. Bates as well as Mrs. Goddard being able to come; and her last pleasing duty, before she left the house, was to pay her respects to them as they sat together after dinner; and while her father was fondly noticing the beauty of her dress, to make the two ladies all the amends in her power, by helping them to large slices of cake and full glasses of wine, for whatever unwilling self-denial his care of their constitution might have obliged them to practise during the meal.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Heaven reward you for your kindness and self-denial! said Hans, as he gave the butcher the cow; and taking the pig off the wheel-barrow, drove it away, holding it by the string that was tied to its leg.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She rated Lady Russell's influence highly; and as to the severe degree of self-denial which her own conscience prompted, she believed there might be little more difficulty in persuading them to a complete, than to half a reformation.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

He is called to the bar; and with admirable industry and self-denial has scraped another hundred pounds together, to fee a Conveyancer whose chambers he attends.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A demand so sudden and so serious made the young man hesitate a moment, for ridicule is often harder to bear than self-denial.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)