as in temperance
voluntary restraint in the satisfaction of one's appetites
even after acquiring great wealth, he continued to practice a kind of puritanical self-abnegation
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Recent Examples of self-abnegation
Her vocation requires the skill of transformation and self-abnegation, as well as a receptiveness to language and emotion not her own.
—
Jordan Kisner, The Atlantic, 4 Apr. 2025
The audience responds gratefully to this level of self-abnegation, and the frankly chilling sounds that come out of her.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Honoré recalls the dirt of a horny adolescent’s lust, the emotional confusion that twists desire for contact and intimacy into degradation, self-abnegation, and the longing for salvation — needs effaced by the title’s unclear American translation.
—Armond White, National Review, 5 May 2023
The tenacious resistance among many Democratic politicians to publicly challenge the court’s misdeeds stands as a spectacular act of self-abnegation.
—Simon Lazarus, The New Republic, 21 Apr. 2023
Jordan Kisner, The Atlantic, 4 Apr. 2025
The audience responds gratefully to this level of self-abnegation, and the frankly chilling sounds that come out of her.
—Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 25 Oct. 2024
Honoré recalls the dirt of a horny adolescent’s lust, the emotional confusion that twists desire for contact and intimacy into degradation, self-abnegation, and the longing for salvation — needs effaced by the title’s unclear American translation.
—Armond White, National Review, 5 May 2023
The tenacious resistance among many Democratic politicians to publicly challenge the court’s misdeeds stands as a spectacular act of self-abnegation.
—Simon Lazarus, The New Republic, 21 Apr. 2023
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-abnegation
temperance
Noun
-
On a single day in 1900, a former schoolteacher destroyed three saloons using bricks, rocks, and a billiard ball—all to advance the cause of temperance.—
The Atlantic Science Desk,
The Atlantic,
27 Dec. 2025
-
The financial incentive for airports and airlines to serve alcohol precludes temperance as a solution.—
Thomas Black,
Twin Cities,
21 Dec. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Self-abnegation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-abnegation. Accessed 12 Jan. 2026.
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