Trivia Time

Which general wrote, "Discipline is the soul of an army"?

Test Your Knowledge

discipline

American  

[dis-uh-plin] / ˈdɪs ə plɪn /

noun

• disciplines
  plural

1. training to act in accordance with rules; drill.

   military discipline.

2. an activity, exercise, or regimen that develops or improves a skill; training.

   Sticking to specific and regular mealtimes is excellent discipline for many dieters.

3. a branch of instruction or learning.

   the disciplines of history and economics.

4. punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.

   Synonyms:

   castigation, chastisement

5. the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc..

   the harsh discipline of poverty.

6. behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control.

   good discipline in an army.

7. a set or system of rules and regulations.

8. Ecclesiastical. the system of government regulating the practice of a church as distinguished from its doctrine.

9. an instrument of punishment, especially a whip or scourge, used in the practice of self-mortification or as an instrument of chastisement in certain religious communities.

---

verb (used with object)

• disciplines,
  present (3rd person singular)
• disciplined,
  past participle,  past
• disciplining
  present participle

1. to train by instruction and exercise; drill.

2. to bring to a state of order and obedience by training and control.

3. to punish or penalize in order to train and control; correct; chastise.

discipline British  

/ ˈdɪsɪˌplɪnəl, ˈdɪsɪplɪn, ˌdɪsɪˈplaɪnəl /

noun

1. training or conditions imposed for the improvement of physical powers, self-control, etc

2. systematic training in obedience to regulations and authority

3. the state of improved behaviour, etc, resulting from such training or conditions

4. punishment or chastisement

5. a system of rules for behaviour, methods of practice, etc

6. a branch of learning or instruction

7. the laws governing members of a Church

8. a scourge of knotted cords

---

verb

1. to improve or attempt to improve the behaviour, orderliness, etc, of by training, conditions, or rules

2. to punish or correct

Synonym Usage

See punish.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• discipliner
  noun
• multidiscipline
  noun
• prediscipline
  noun
• subdiscipline
  noun
• overdiscipline
  verb
• rediscipline
  verb (used with object)
• disciplinable
  adjective
• disciplinal
  adjective
• nondisciplining
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• disciplines
  plural

Participles

• disciplining
  present
• disciplined
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• discipline
  simple
• disciplines
  simple
• have disciplined
  perfect
• has disciplined
  perfect
• am disciplining
  progressive
• are disciplining
  progressive
• is disciplining
  progressive
• have been disciplining
  perfect progressive
• has been disciplining
  perfect progressive

Past

• disciplined
  simple
• had disciplined
  perfect
• was disciplining
  progressive
• were disciplining
  progressive
• had been disciplining
  perfect progressive

Future

• will discipline
  simple
• will have disciplined
  perfect
• will be disciplining
  progressive
• will have been disciplining
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of discipline

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin disciplīna “instruction, tuition,” equivalent to discipul(us) “pupil, learner, trainee” + -ina noun suffix; see origin at disciple; see -ine ²

Explanation

When you have discipline, you have self-control. When you discipline children, you are either teaching them to be well-behaved, or you are punishing and correcting them. The origins of this word offer great clues about its current meanings. The Old French descepline referred to punishment and suffering. The Latin disciplina meant "teaching, learning." The Old English version referred to a branch of knowledge or field of study (so if you're really good at word origins, you might want to make etymology your discipline). Developing discipline as a form of training is a military concept that's more than 500 years old.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

discipline disciplines disciplined disciplining

I definitely place more weight on ideas versus the discipline of playing an instrument.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

The trio sanded the edges of Colleton’s original whimsy, borrowed some of the moderation discipline from the tables and gave the project a name: American Dialogues.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

But as the science shows, this weight regain is not due to a lack of discipline; rather, our biology is doing exactly what it evolved to do: defend against weight loss.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026

When ratings are publicly disclosed, market discipline helps drive reliability because assumptions, methodologies and judgments are scrutinized by investors, analysts and journalists.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 3, 2026

A new discipline and order also entered their lives.

From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson

She was second after two of the four disciplines before she had a terrible beam routine, which included a faltering start and falling off halfway.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

At ZOS, Goin estimates some disciplines have been reduced to a quarter of what they were before.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

The difficulty, then, is not to choose between supposedly solid disciplines and supposedly fragile ones.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026

In “Rheology,” Shayok Misha Chowdhury, an experimental theater artist, and his mother, Bulbul Chakraborty, a theoretical physicist, bridge the language of their different disciplines to explore a subject dear to both of them: loss.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

The divisiveness among scientific disciplines, especially between the basic sciences and the applied science of medicine, was then fostered deliberately by medical schools.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

“With our steady cadence of innovation and disciplined operational execution, we enter the second half of 2026 with regained momentum and remain confident in our ability to grow at the high end of MedTech.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

“We continued to grow assets under management, loans and deposits, while maintaining disciplined cost and capital management,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Ortiz testified that he was not disciplined after the shooting, that he did not receive additional training as a result of the incident, nor did his job duties change.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

“Our performance is being driven by robust cloud data-center demand and disciplined execution, and we see the momentum continuing in 2027,” Seagate CEO Dave Mosley said in a statement.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

But the people were behind him, and he had created a disciplined and well-organized group of volunteers who had defied in an orderly fashion even while Gwentshe was in prison.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

The solicitors firm added that the ambulance trust was "not formally disciplining" staff but had "strengthened their HR process for future incidents".

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

“There is no study out there that I have found that says this is an effective way of disciplining elementary school students,” London said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026

Rate hikes aimed at disciplining speculation can do more than cool the room.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 4, 2026

“By arresting Villarreal, rather than solely disciplining the employee for any wrongdoing, county officials took this ‘everyday journalism’ and transformed it ‘into a crime,’ ” she wrote.

From Slate ● Mar. 26, 2026

“Allowing something like that to happen under my supervision. Not properly disciplining Louisa for her indiscretion. And Louisa couldn’t come forward because she—because.”

From "The Brightwood Code" by Monica Hesse

Related Words

• control
• development
• education
• method
• practice
• preparation
• regulation
• restraint
• self-control
• self-restraint
• will