SELF-INDULGENCE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does self-indulgence mean? 

• SELF-INDULGENCE (noun)
  The noun SELF-INDULGENCE has 2 senses:

1. an inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires

2. excess in action and immoderate indulgence of bodily appetites, especially in passion or indulgence

  Familiarity information: SELF-INDULGENCE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SELF-INDULGENCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

indulgence; self-indulgence

Hypernyms ("self-indulgence" is a kind of...):

indiscipline; undiscipline (the trait of lacking discipline)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "self-indulgence"):

luxury (something that is an indulgence rather than a necessity)

Derivation:

self-indulgent (indulgent of your own appetites and desires)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Excess in action and immoderate indulgence of bodily appetites, especially in passion or indulgence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

intemperance; intemperateness; self-indulgence

Context example:

the intemperance of their language

Hypernyms ("self-indulgence" is a kind of...):

humoring; indulgence; indulging; pampering (the act of indulging or gratifying a desire)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "self-indulgence"):

fling; spree (a brief indulgence of your impulses)

dissipation; dissolution; licentiousness; looseness; profligacy (dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure)

jag (a bout of drinking or drug taking)

Derivation:

self-indulgent (indulgent of your own appetites and desires)

 Context examples 

It is a great defect of temper, made worse by a very faulty habit of self-indulgence; and to see your sister suffering from it must be exceedingly painful to such feelings as yours.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The veil of self-indulgence was rent from head to foot.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Mr Elliot, raised by his marriage to great affluence, and disposed to every gratification of pleasure and vanity which could be commanded without involving himself, (for with all his self-indulgence he had become a prudent man), and beginning to be rich, just as his friend ought to have found himself to be poor, seemed to have had no concern at all for that friend's probable finances, but, on the contrary, had been prompting and encouraging expenses which could end only in ruin; and the Smiths accordingly had been ruined.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)