SELF-POSSESSION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does self-possession mean? 

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

1. the trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• SELF-POSSESSION (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-possession" 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-possession"):

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 

I did not use to think her wanting in self-possession, but she had not quite enough for the demands of yesterday.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I never beheld anything approaching to Miss Mowcher's wink except Miss Mowcher's self-possession.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She had nerved herself for the last culminating ordeal, and his remark was like a blow to her self-possession.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

"Well—the general air, the style, the self-possession, the—the—illusion—you know", laughed Laurie, breaking down and helping himself out of his quandary with the new word.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Thirteen years had seen her mistress of Kellynch Hall, presiding and directing with a self-possession and decision which could never have given the idea of her being younger than she was.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I still stood absolutely dumfoundered at what appeared to me her miraculous self-possession and most inscrutable hypocrisy, when the cook entered.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She could not help but measure the professors, neat, scholarly, in fitting clothes, speaking in well-modulated voices, breathing of culture and refinement, with this almost indescribable young fellow whom somehow she loved, whose clothes never would fit him, whose heavy muscles told of damning toil, who grew excited when he talked, substituting abuse for calm statement and passionate utterance for cool self-possession.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small stage at Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more sudden and startling than the first appearance of Thorneycroft Huxtable, M.A., Ph.D., etc. His card, which seemed too small to carry the weight of his academic distinctions, preceded him by a few seconds, and then he entered himself—so large, so pompous, and so dignified that he was the very embodiment of self-possession and solidity.

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

They did not like each other, and no renewal of acquaintance now could do any good; and were Lady Russell to see them together, she might think that he had too much self-possession, and she too little.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)