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
Example Sentences
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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
-
Just a few weeks earlier, North Carolina’s governor, Josh Stein, was forced to appeal the federal government’s refusal to continue funding 100% of the state’s debris removal costs in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
25 Apr. 2025
-
The current crisis stems from the refusal of the administration to return to the US one Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who, while not renditioned under the AEA, was sent to El Salvador.—
Liz Tracey,
JSTOR Daily,
25 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Supporters aligned with the temperance movement used Weston’s walks to advance their agenda—since Weston was a teetotaler, sponsors and cheerleaders trumpeted his feats as evidence that sobriety was healthy.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
26 Mar. 2025
-
For instance, trust will be eroded when a person demonstrates a lack of temperance, which manifests as being agitated, impatient, inattentive, rash, and anxious instead of being composed, patient, prudent, self-controlled, and calm.—
Mary Crossan,
Forbes,
21 Mar. 2025
Noun
-
Planning staff recommended denial of the permit for the drive-thru, which would sit within 300 feet of another drive-thru to its north and the Bainbridge subdivision to its west on Lost Rapids Drive.—
Rose Evans,
Idaho Statesman,
19 Apr. 2025
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Often the oddity comes from the chilling drone of bureaucracy: the executor’s compassionate thicket of legal reasoning, an airline representative’s denial of Carrie’s quest for a bereavement discount, the dollars and cents of Dr. J’s cremation (for which Carrie is retroactively billed).—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
18 Apr. 2025
Noun
-
Erdoğan may need Kurdish support to run again Some analysts have said public suggestions by Erdoğan's political allies that Ocalan, the 75-year-old PKK leader, could be released in return for a renunciation of violence, form part of an effort to woo Kurdish voters.—
Willem Marx,
NPR,
1 Mar. 2025
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Enacted after the Civil War as a renunciation of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which held that Black people are not citizens of the U.S., the birthright citizenship clause has been relatively uncontested since 1868.—
Henry Gass,
The Christian Science Monitor,
30 Jan. 2025
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
Cite this Entry
“Self-denial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-denial. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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