self-assertion

noun

self-as·​ser·​tion ˌself-ə-ˈsər-shən 

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

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

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