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self-understanding

British  

noun

  1. the ability to understand one's own actions

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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Rebecca Newberger Goldstein’s “The Mattering Instinct” is an attempt to place human self-understanding on a new footing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 2026

The very basis of our self-understanding is on the line.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 20, 2025

The point of opening the caskets of our forgotten history is to foster the self-understanding necessary to empower the work of creating a future that upholds the democratic creed that “all men are created equal.”

From Salon • Oct. 13, 2024

The story of identity formation is deeply personal, based on the sedimentation of experience, self-understanding, and the ascriptions of others.

From Slate • Jul. 5, 2023

One can easily imagine the effect of two such vigorous and intriguing minds upon a youth groping about for self-understanding and self-expression.

From A Book of Prefaces by Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)