self-command

American  

[self-kuh-mand, -mahnd, self-] / ˈsɛlf kəˈmænd, -ˈmɑnd, ˌsɛlf- /

noun

1. self-control.

---

self-command British  

noun

1. another term for self-control

---

Etymology

Origin of self-command

First recorded in 1690–1700

Example Sentences

Groups of large men and women hurtle at one another to the point of potential endangerment yet manage self-command.

From Washington Post • Jan. 8, 2021

Thus is the hero of the film, played with charismatic self-command by Denzel Washington, presented as the Spartacus of his people.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 9, 2018

I take the phrase as an instruction, a self-command.

From New York Times • Feb. 9, 2017

But Affleck, giving the finest performance of an already impressive career opposite the always astonishing Williams, denies us the relief of that catharsis by underplaying the transitions between sorrow and self-command.

From Slate • Nov. 18, 2016

“It comes to the same thing. I can have no self-command without a motive. You order me, whether you speak or not. And you can be always with me. You are always with me.”

From "Emma" by Jane Austen

Related Words

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