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
The life that Alharthi describes is one of almost saintly self-abnegation.
From Washington Post ● May 24, 2022
The close third-person narration of the novel gives readers intimate access to Marianne’s pain and self-abnegation, but some of this gets lost in adaptation.
From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2020
But her self-abnegation, far from enabling her work, frustrates the fulfillment of her artistic potential, turning her books into lifeless “intellectual exercises.”
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 13, 2019
“Truth is stranger than fiction,” and it follows, therefore, that such instances of self-abnegation induced by impecuniosity have been and will be found.
From Curiosities of Impecuniosity by H. G. Somerville
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.
