self-restraint
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of self-restraint
First recorded in 1765–75
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.
It teaches the difference between boyhood and manhood, between self-indulgence and self-restraint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
The notes, owned and preserved by the family of close associate and freedom fighter Anand T Hingorani, include 688 of Gandhi's handwritten messages on truth, non-violence and self-restraint written between 1944 and 1946.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
Whatever the outcome, the court will be deciding not only the fate of one executive order but whether its own doctrine of self-restraint in election cases still has any meaning.
From Slate ● Jul. 30, 2026
And I mean, it definitely has a lot of self-restraint attached to it, so who knows if I possess that as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 4, 2026
She could only use patience and self-restraint poor tools when matched against the heartfelt mania of love to which the ancient race was martyred.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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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.