disciplines

Noun

discipline (countable and uncountable, plural disciplines)

1. A controlled behaviour; self-control.
   • The most perfect, who have their passions in the best discipline, are yet obliged to be constantly on their guard.a. 1729, John Rogers, The Difficulties of Obtaining Salvation

   Antonyms:

   spontaneity

   1. An enforced compliance or control.
      • The masters looked unusually stern, but it was the sternness of thought rather than of discipline.1956, Michael Arlen, “1/1/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
   2. A systematic method of obtaining obedience.
      • Discipline aims at the removal of bad habits and the substitution of good ones, especially those of order, regularity, and obedience.1871, Charles John Smith, Synonyms Discriminated
   3. A state of order based on submission to authority.
      • Their wildness lose, and, quitting nature's part, / Obey the rules and discipline of art.1697, Virgil, “The Second Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
   4. A set of rules regulating behaviour.
   5. A punishment to train or maintain control.
      • giving her the discipline of the strap1712 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, October 2, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 499; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a...

See all 14 meanings of discipline