1
as in refusal
the act or practice of giving up or rejecting something once enjoyed or desired
dieting is an endless exercise in self-denial
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in temperance
voluntary restraint in the satisfaction of one's appetites
self-indulgent even when she was poor, she wasn't about to practice self-denial after getting rich
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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Recent Examples of self-denial
But the biblical term for self-denial – inui – has another meaning.
—
Rabbi Avi Weiss, Sun Sentinel, 7 Oct. 2024
The Ford Focus Electric, with its appealing, Euro-hatchback lines, lacks the frumpy feel of self-denial often associated with electric cars.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 Mar. 2012
Loneliness gets to the heart of the spiritual dissatisfaction and self-denial seen post-Covid and in both the pro-Hamas and pro–George Floyd rioting.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 May 2024
Crace transports readers 2,000 years into the past to a stark Biblical landscape full of visceral encounters, violence, self-denial, and possible miracles.
—Mia Barzilay Freund, Vogue, 29 Mar. 2024
The last week of January in particular would be an excellent time to decamp somewhere pretty, travel for pleasure, or do some spiritual seeking (but maybe the kind that comes with laughter and good food, and not strict rules and self-denial).
—Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 Dec. 2023
Shocking self-indulgence sits cheek by jowl with self-denial.
—Tobi Haslett, Harper's Magazine, 18 Sep. 2023
That an ancient philosophy based on self-denial could find an audience among TikTokers, subredditors, and gladiatorial millionaires suggested two possibilities: Stoicism either had quite a lot going for it, or nothing at all.
—Tom Bissell, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
Rabbi Avi Weiss, Sun Sentinel, 7 Oct. 2024
The Ford Focus Electric, with its appealing, Euro-hatchback lines, lacks the frumpy feel of self-denial often associated with electric cars.
—IEEE Spectrum, 28 Mar. 2012
Loneliness gets to the heart of the spiritual dissatisfaction and self-denial seen post-Covid and in both the pro-Hamas and pro–George Floyd rioting.
—Armond White, National Review, 10 May 2024
Crace transports readers 2,000 years into the past to a stark Biblical landscape full of visceral encounters, violence, self-denial, and possible miracles.
—Mia Barzilay Freund, Vogue, 29 Mar. 2024
The last week of January in particular would be an excellent time to decamp somewhere pretty, travel for pleasure, or do some spiritual seeking (but maybe the kind that comes with laughter and good food, and not strict rules and self-denial).
—Steph Koyfman, Condé Nast Traveler, 27 Dec. 2023
Shocking self-indulgence sits cheek by jowl with self-denial.
—Tobi Haslett, Harper's Magazine, 18 Sep. 2023
That an ancient philosophy based on self-denial could find an audience among TikTokers, subredditors, and gladiatorial millionaires suggested two possibilities: Stoicism either had quite a lot going for it, or nothing at all.
—Tom Bissell, Harper’s Magazine , 10 Apr. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-denial
Noun
-
Trump, a Republican, left office in 2021 as a political pariah after his refusal to accept his loss to Democrat Joe Biden led a mob to overrun the Capitol.—
Michelle L. Price,
Chicago Tribune,
18 Jan. 2025
-
Trump, a Republican, left office in 2021 as a political pariah after his refusal to accept his loss to Democrat Joe Biden led a mob to overrun the U.S. Capitol; he was impeached on a charge of inciting an insurrection.—
Michelle L. Price and Will Weissert,
Los Angeles Times,
18 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
In 2020, my colleague Olga Khazan asked why no one seemed interested in creating a modern temperance movement.—
Shayla Love,
The Atlantic,
13 Jan. 2025
-
With them in charge, Lily Dale flourished into a resort town, a summer destination, a thriving year-round community of the faithful, and a hub on activist lecture circuits dedicated to suffrage, temperance, abolition, and socialism.—
Marissa C. Rhodes / Made by History,
TIME,
8 Oct. 2024
Noun
-
From claim denials to failure to cover hormone therapy treatments and low reimbursement for the time and care needed to treat perimenopause and menopause.—
Lauryn Higgins,
Flow Space,
24 Jan. 2025
-
Navigating The Application Process With Help Applying for an H-1B visa is a multi-step process with rules and deadlines that must be followed to avoid delays or denials.—
Sophie Alcorn,
Forbes,
24 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
So the practice of love turns on a renunciation of control.—
Sean Illing,
Vox,
9 Dec. 2024
-
Syria The large question hanging over our Syria policy is whether the rebel group chiefly responsible for toppling the Assad regime, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or Organization for the Liberation of the Levant, is sincere in its renunciation of terrorism and Taliban-style Islamism.—
Bret Stephens,
The Mercury News,
12 Dec. 2024
Noun
-
The feats, the ecstasies, the prostrations and abnegations.—
James Parker,
The Atlantic,
10 Jan. 2025
-
The explicit and quasi-religious abnegation of the right to violent self-defense put the national committee at odds with one of its key allies during the Saturday march: Black Lives Matter.—
Samantha Eyler,
Foreign Affairs,
31 Jan. 2017
Thesaurus Entries Near self-denial
Cite this Entry
“Self-denial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-denial. Accessed 30 Jan. 2025.
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