as in restraint
the power to control one's actions, impulses, or emotions
a man of extraordinary self-containment, he refused to lose his temper even in the most trying of circumstances
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Recent Examples of self-containment
Stability starts with self-containment.
—
Usa Today, USA Today, 25 Mar. 2026
What sets Return apart is its perfect self-containment.
—Brad Shoup, Pitchfork, 24 Jan. 2026
And for people who equate maturity with self-containment, that can feel threatening.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Jan. 2026
Throughout the crisis, her burgeoning friendship with the hostage’s wife, challenges Barb’s usual sense of propriety and self-containment.
—Matt Grobar, Deadline, 27 Aug. 2025
Cregger maintains the film’s self-containment.
—Andy Crump, Time, 9 Aug. 2025
Usa Today, USA Today, 25 Mar. 2026
What sets Return apart is its perfect self-containment.
—Brad Shoup, Pitchfork, 24 Jan. 2026
And for people who equate maturity with self-containment, that can feel threatening.
—Mark Travers, Forbes.com, 7 Jan. 2026
Throughout the crisis, her burgeoning friendship with the hostage’s wife, challenges Barb’s usual sense of propriety and self-containment.
—Matt Grobar, Deadline, 27 Aug. 2025
Cregger maintains the film’s self-containment.
—Andy Crump, Time, 9 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-containment
restraint
Noun
-
Hegseth came out of his own service, in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the seeming conviction that what had stood in the way of a fuller victory in those wars had been the restraints supposedly placed on how soldiers could kill.—
Benjamin Wallace-Wells,
New Yorker,
3 Apr. 2026
-
In a culture that rewards fast takes, that kind of restraint is rare.—
Sonia Singh,
Rolling Stone,
2 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Self-containment.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-containment. Accessed 6 Apr. 2026.
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