self-examination
Americannoun
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examination into one's own state, conduct, motives, etc.
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Medicine/Medical. examination of one's body for signs of illness or disease.
breast self-examination.
noun
Other Word Forms
- self-examining adjective
Etymology
Origin of self-examination
First recorded in 1640–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Indeed, her book is replete with their habit of self-examination, an unflattering comparison with today’s legacy press.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025
On Dec. 20, The Times published a massive self-examination that broke down what went wrong.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 16, 2024
What began as an exercise in curiosity and self-examination — Is it me?
From Salon • Dec. 6, 2024
Hearing about a death from breast cancer at age 33 led Chelsea -- then 28 -- to conduct her own self-examination, where she discovered a lump.
From Science Daily • Apr. 26, 2024
For the many thousands, who know by experience what a calm, candid, searching, self-examination is, now that their attention has been drawn to its full psychological import, no further word is necessary.
From Know the Truth; A critique of the Hamiltonian Theory of Limitation by Jones, Jesse H.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
