Meanings
- uncountableThe knowledge of one's own worth.
Would any woman have behaved like that—if a man had said he didn’t want her? We’ve too much self-respect; we’re infinitely finer than they are.
1915, Virginia Woolf, chapter XIX, in The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC3 more examples
[…] he wished he had been a William Price, distinguishing himself and working his way to fortune and consequence with so much self-respect and happy ardour, instead of what he was!
1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XXIV, in Mansfield Park: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLCIn the little chaos of Pearl's character there might be seen emerging[…]an uncontrollable will—sturdy pride, which might be disciplined into self-respect—and a bitter scorn of many things which, when examined, might be found to have the taint of falsehood in them.
1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC“To hold Arrakis,” the Duke said, “one is faced with decisions that may cost one his self-respect.” He pointed out the window to the Atreides green and black banner hanging limply from a staff at the edge of the landing field. "That honorable banner could come to mean many evil things."
1965 October 1, Frank Herbert, “Book I: Dune”, in Dune, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Book Company; [Toronto], Ont.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 103
Synonyms & antonyms
nounthe quality of being worthy of esteem or respect
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*swé?
- Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*selbaz
- Old Englishself
- Old Englishself-
- Middle Englishself-
- Englishself-
- Englishrespect
- Englishself-respect
Translations
Bulgarian самоуваже́ние
- самоуваже́ние (samouvažénie)knowledge of one's own worth
Chinese Mandarin 自尊, 自尊心
- 自尊 (zìzūn)knowledge of one's own worth
- 自尊心 (zìzūnxīn)knowledge of one's own worth
Czech sebeúcta
- sebeúctaknowledge of one's own worth
Danish selvrespekt
- selvrespektknowledge of one's own worth
Dutch zelfrespect
- zelfrespectknowledge of one's own worth
Esperanto memrespekto
- memrespektoknowledge of one's own worth
Finnish itsekunnioitus
- itsekunnioitusknowledge of one's own worth
French respect de soi, dignité personnelle
- respect de soiknowledge of one's own worth
- dignité personnelleknowledge of one's own worth
German Selbstachtung, Selbstrespekt
- Selbstachtungknowledge of one's own worth
- Selbstrespektknowledge of one's own worth
- Selbstwertschätzungknowledge of one's own worth
Greek αυτοσεβασμός
- αυτοσεβασμός (aftosevasmós)knowledge of one's own worth
Hindi आत्मगौरव, आत्मसम्मान
- आत्मगौरव (ātmagaurav)knowledge of one's own worth
- आत्मसम्मान (ātmasammān)knowledge of one's own worth
Hungarian önérzet
- önérzetknowledge of one's own worth
Irish féinmheas
- féinmheasknowledge of one's own worth
Italian autostima
- autostimaknowledge of one's own worth
Japanese 自尊, 自尊心
- 自尊 (jison)knowledge of one's own worth
- 自尊心 (jisonshin)knowledge of one's own worth
Korean 자존심
- 자존심 (jajonsim)knowledge of one's own worth
Latvian pašcieņa
- pašcieņaknowledge of one's own worth
Lithuanian savigarba
- savigarbaknowledge of one's own worth
Māori kiritau
- kiritauknowledge of one's own worth
Polish poczucie własnej wartości, szacunek dla samego siebie
- poczucie własnej wartościknowledge of one's own worth
- szacunek dla samego siebieknowledge of one's own worth
Portuguese orgulho, vergonha na cara
- orgulhoknowledge of one's own worth
- vergonha na caraknowledge of one's own worth
Romanian respect de sine
- respect de sineknowledge of one's own worth
Russian чу́вство со́бственного досто́инства, самоуваже́ние
- чу́вство со́бственного досто́инства (čúvstvo sóbstvennovo dostóinstva)knowledge of one's own worth
- самоуваже́ние (samouvažénije)knowledge of one's own worth
Scottish Gaelic fèin-urram
- fèin-urramknowledge of one's own worth
Spanish autorrespeto
- autorrespetoknowledge of one's own worth
Swedish självaktning
- självaktningknowledge of one's own worth
Turkish özsaygı
- özsaygıknowledge of one's own worth
Vietnamese lòng tự trọng
- lòng tự trọngknowledge of one's own worth
Welsh hunan-barch
- hunan-barchknowledge of one's own worth
Cite this entry
self-respect. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-respect
“self-respect.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-respect. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-respect,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-respect.
Source: self-respect on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.