Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Self-control \Self`-con*trol"\, n. Control of one's self; restraint exercised over one's self; self-command.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. The ability to control one's desires and impulses; willpower.
WordNet
n. the act of denying yourself; controlling your impulses [syn: self-denial, self-discipline]
the trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior [syn: self-possession, possession, willpower, self-command, self-will]
Wikipedia
Self-control, an aspect of inhibitory control, is the ability to control one's emotions and behavior in the face of temptations and impulses. As an executive function, self-control is a cognitive process that is necessary for regulating one's behavior in order to achieve goals.
A related concept in psychology is emotional self-regulation. Self-control is like a muscle. In the short term, overuse of self-control will lead to depletion. However, in the long term, the use of self-control can strengthen and improve over time.
Self-Control is a novel by the Scottish novelist Mary Brunton, published in 1811. The novel, which had some success in its own time, tells a rocambolesque tale, which inspired Jane Austen when she wrote her Plan of a Novel.
Part of the author's intent in writing the work was to show "the power of the religious principle in bestowing self-command", and as a rebuttal to the idea that a reformed rake makes the best husband.
Usage examples of "self-control".
He fought it, begrudged it, and rarely did one ever break the confines of his eternal self-control.
His hospitality had been without a flaw, and if he had really been wishing Bernard out of his house, he had behaved with admirable self-control.
It is noticeable, however, that this is being rapidly outgrown and more self-control is being practiced.
Self-control is manhood and I felt toward Rait as I would toward a corpse of some one who had died of leprosy.
No one could quite believe Dieter was so lost to self-control, yet his words hung in the supercharged air like a subcritical mass of plutonium, and they waited breathlessly for the explosion.
Slightly bleeding at the eyebrows, squinting through the empty frames, she groped her way backward, and finally began to blubber repulsively, with a lack of self-control quite unbefitting an educator, while the rabble behind me fell into a terrified silence, some sitting there with chattering teeth, others vanishing beneath their desks.
But as a connoisseur and a voluptuary, Charles Cameron was a master of self-control and knew precisely the route along which he intended to lead this charming captive until she would at last succumb to his carnal urges.
The young doctor walked down the gangplank dressed in perfect alpaca, wearing a vest and dustcoat, with the beard of a young Pasteur and his hair divided by a neat, pale part, and with enough self-control to hide the lump in his throat caused not by terror but by sadness.
Settembrini, had held more than one lunatic to temporary self-control, simply by opposing to his humbuggery an air of inexorable reason.
But then Jehu managed to regain self-control and ostentatiously spun to watch the ceremony.
In the past, Sophia had made no secret of her opinion that he was a lowbred scoundrel with all the self-control of a rutting boar.
Also later, acquaintances admitted hearing stories of the sadomasochistic games that Bryan and his pals had favored, wild evenings of drugs and sex, complete with whips and chains, during which Daughtry increasingly lost his self-control.
It did, however, cause his colleagues to exchange glances of surprise at his lack of self-control, even Sharifa and Georn.
Vivian Tamburello at the John Hopkins Counseling Center in Baltimore have a self-control program for adults and children.
Agitated like the commonest of wretches, destitute of self-control, not able to preserve a decent mask, be, accustomed to inflict these emotions and tremours upon others, was at once the puppet and dupe of an intriguing girl.