Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Calm and self-assured command of one's faculties, feelings, and behavior.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The control of one's powers; presence of mind; calmness; self-command.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The possession of one's powers; calmness; self-command; presence of mind; composure.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
confidence in one's own powers - noun
calmness andcomposure , especially when understress
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the trait of resolutely controlling your own behavior
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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One of these characteristics is self-possession (not the dreary “self-esteem”), a sureness about who she is that paradoxically allows her to show her vulnerability without with unraveling.
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She has reached this almost mystical state of self-possession even before any reconciliation with the past and her family have occurred (at least, I think so).
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The documentary has so far received mixed reviews from critics: Julia Tech of the Washington Sun Dial has proclaimed the film "pure propaganda," while Jacques-Louis Louis-Jacques of Fanfaron du Cinema notes: "Its binary transgressive morality deliquesces Arcandian purity and dyspeptic Foucaultian somnambulism, creating a dual-time narrative fissure in which cinema self-possession collapses, rejecting meta-pastiche agitprop for an allegory about the camera's ability to view and be viewed."
Spencer Green: Terrence Malick Directs the Latest Sarah Palin Documentary Spencer Green 2011
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One of these characteristics is self-possession (not the dreary “self-esteem”), a sureness about who she is that paradoxically allows her to show her vulnerability without with unraveling.
Why French Women Are Diffferent on Bastille Day or Any Other « One-Minute Book Reviews 2009
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The author writes about the absurdities of modern life from the point of view of one who has been seduced by and immersed in them, but who advocates cultivating a kind of detached self-possession as a way of withstanding the trivial and noisy demands of our age.
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The documentary has so far received mixed reviews from critics: Julia Tech of the Washington Sun Dial has proclaimed the film "pure propaganda," while Jacques-Louis Louis-Jacques of Fanfaron du Cinema notes: "Its binary transgressive morality deliquesces Arcandian purity and dyspeptic Foucaultian somnambulism, creating a dual-time narrative fissure in which cinema self-possession collapses, rejecting meta-pastiche agitprop for an allegory about the camera's ability to view and be viewed."
Spencer Green: Terrence Malick Directs the Latest Sarah Palin Documentary Spencer Green 2011
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She had nerved herself for the last culminating ordeal, and his remark was like a blow to her self-possession.
THE UNEXPECTED 2010
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Slowly, with witty self-possession, this thoughtful heroine d ecides that she must untangle the narrative strands around her.
Discovering the Past's Perils and Pleasures Meghan Cox Gurdon 2011
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The young-adult novelist John Green creates characters of such quirky charm and witty self-possession that you can almost hear the acoustic strains of indie-pop in the background as you read.
A Prize Winner With a Poignant Sense of Loss Meghan Cox Gurdon 2012
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His movements are as fluid and economical as those of a Siamese cat, his self-possession unnerving.
Pierre Rougier: The Man Behind the Curtain Nancy Hass 2011
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