self-renunciation

[self-ri-nuhn-see-ey-shuhn, self-]

noun

1. renunciation of one's own will, interests, etc.

self-renunciation

noun

1. the renunciation of one's own rights, claims, interest, etc, esp in favour of those of others

Other Word Forms

• self-renunciatory adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-renunciation¹

First recorded in 1785–95

Example Sentences

If this is followed to its logical conclusion, Harvard will undergo nothing short of total self-renunciation.

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The first condition of all really great moral excellence is a spirit of genuine self-sacrifice and self-renunciation.

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"Far be it from me to belittle them who recognized their hard and repulsive duty in the plague last winter, and performed it with utter self-renunciation," said Stephen Hopkins.

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“By hope and faith and charity, and the sublime doctrine of self-renunciation, all will yet come right, my father.”

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The least act of pure self-renunciation hallows, for the moment, all within its sphere.

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