self-possession
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of self-possession
First recorded in 1735–45
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.
But nothing comes across more clearly in “Queen of Chess” than Judit Polgár’s unruffled self-possession.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 5, 2026
It’s given me this facility, and this self-possession.
From Salon • Aug. 11, 2024
She is a poignant picture of frayed dignity, her aristocratic self-possession increasingly brittle as the story progresses toward it sad denouement.
From New York Times • May 3, 2024
Of the four, he has the most fully-formed act, is the most convincing storyteller, and seems to have the self-possession required for stand-up.
From BBC • Aug. 22, 2023
And now at last Odysseus would have perished, battered inhumanly, but he had the gift of self-possession from grey-eyed Athena.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
