self-abuse
Americannoun
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disparagement or misuse of one's own abilities, etc
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a censorious term for masturbation See masturbation
Etymology
Origin of self-abuse
First recorded in 1595–1605
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.
Make it for everyone Unlike misanthropy or self-abuse, tea-making is not a solitary pursuit.
From The Guardian • Dec. 8, 2015
The inability or unwillingness to breast-feed remains a font of unfathomable desperation and self-abuse among American mothers.
From Slate • Apr. 24, 2012
The inability or unwillingness to breast-feed remains a font of unfathomable desperation and self-abuse among American mothers Photograph by iStockphoto.
From Slate • Apr. 24, 2012
A third, between decorative quotes from Michel Foucault, extols Basquiat's "punishing regime of self-abuse" as part of "the disciplines imposed by the principle of inverse asceticism to which he was so resolutely committed."
From Time Magazine Archive
Return mail brings the book, which is a wretched jargon of confused terms and appalling descriptions of the effects of self-abuse, with the most shameful exaggerations of the significance of the most trivial symptoms.
From Plain Facts for Old and Young by Kellogg, John Harvey
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.
