self-command

American  

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

noun

1. self-control.

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self-command British  

noun

1. another term for self-control

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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 to me, that absence of self-command suggests more than mere flightiness.

From Slate • Nov. 2, 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