self-assertion

noun

self-as·​ser·​tion ˌself-ə-ˈsər-shən How to pronounce self-assertion (audio)
1
: the act of asserting oneself or one's own rights, claims, or opinions
2
: the act of asserting one's superiority over others

Examples of self-assertion in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
These examples are automatically compiled from online sources to illustrate current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
The full moon in your sign on Oct. 17 brings the focus back to your independence and personal goals, signaling a moment of release and self-assertion. Valerie Mesa, People.com, 7 Oct. 2024 As the story proceeds, the narrator dredges up more secrets, more cries for help that double as acts of self-assertion. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 4 Sep. 2024 The action lurches from overt satire to romantic jousting and soap-operatic family melodrama; the performances have a declamatory pseudo-amateurism in keeping with the film’s statements of personal self-assertion and political purpose. Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2024 Scott’s blinking, stuttering, no-longer-shy self-assertion is absolutely recognizable and absorbing. Armond White, National Review, 29 Dec. 2023 This vision of identity as plural means that self-assertion does not necessarily come at the expense of the rest of the world. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023 But with this bottom-up self-assertion has come the bile that so terrified the founders of modern India. Vinay Sitapati, Foreign Affairs, 24 Nov. 2021 This stark reality is made painfully real in the flashes of regret that cross Ali’s face and in the occasional bursts of defiant self-assertion that Fetchit, to his credit, doesn’t always walk back. Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 27 June 2023 This was a recognizably Trumpian bit of ego rehab and self-assertion, after a recognizably Trumpian transgression. Dan Greene, The New Yorker, 31 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1805, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of self-assertion was in 1805

Dictionary Entries Near self-assertion

Cite this Entry

“Self-assertion.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-assertion. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

self-assertion

noun
self-as·​ser·​tion
ˌsel-fə-ˈsər-shən
1
: the act of asserting oneself or one's own rights or claims
2
: the act of asserting that one is better than others
self-assertive
-ˈsərt-iv
adjective

More from Merriam-Webster on self-assertion

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