self-abnegation
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-abnegation
First recorded in 1650–60
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.
On the contrary, sometimes it unfolds out of the public eye; self-abnegation can be a reliable marker of character.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
Where did this self-abnegation begin, and why does it persist?
From Slate ● Mar. 23, 2025
Perhaps that is an ordinary situation most mothers would recognize, but I was so immature and unformed that I experienced that acute fear of self-abnegation as if it were the entire meaning of motherhood itself.
From New York Times ● Dec. 2, 2021
But whatever it is that propelled Johns down the path of self-abnegation, the denial was never absolute or complete.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 29, 2021
What the law should do, is to step in and guard woman against the possible disastrous consequences which may spring from the spontaneous self-abnegation of love.
From A New Atmosphere by Gail Hamilton
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.
