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Webster 1913 Edition

Discipline

Disˊci-pline

,
Noun.
[F.
discipline
, L.
disciplina
, from
discipulus
. See
Disciple
.]
1.
The treatment suited to a disciple or learner; education; development of the faculties by instruction and exercise; training, whether physical, mental, or moral.
Wife and children are a kind of
discipline
of humanity.
Bacon.
Discipline
aims at the removal of bad habits and the substitution of good ones, especially those of order, regularity, and obedience.
C. J. Smith.
2.
Training to act in accordance with established rules; accustoming to systematic and regular action; drill.
Their wildness lose, and, quitting nature’s part,
Obey the rules and
discipline
of art.
Dryden.
3.
Subjection to rule; submissiveness to order and control; habit of obedience.
The most perfect, who have their passions in the best
discipline
, are yet obliged to be constantly on their guard.
Rogers.
4.
Severe training, corrective of faults; instruction by means of misfortune, suffering, punishment, etc.
A sharp
discipline
of half a century had sufficed to educate us.
Macaulay.
5.
Correction; chastisement; punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
Giving her the
discipline
of the strap.
Addison.
6.
The subject matter of instruction; a branch of knowledge.
Bp. Wilkins.
7.
(Eccl.)
The enforcement of methods of correction against one guilty of ecclesiastical offenses; reformatory or penal action toward a church member.
8.
(R. C. Ch.)
Self-inflicted and voluntary corporal punishment, as penance, or otherwise; specifically, a penitential scourge.
Syn. – Education; instruction; training; culture; correction; chastisement; punishment.

Dis′ci-pline

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Disciplined
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Disciplining
.]
[Cf. LL.
disciplinarian
to flog, fr. L.
disciplina
discipline, and F.
discipliner
to discipline.]
1.
To educate; to develop by instruction and exercise; to train.
2.
To accustom to regular and systematic action; to bring under control so as to act systematically; to train to act together under orders; to teach subordination to; to form a habit of obedience in; to drill.
Ill armed, and worse
disciplined
.
Clarendon.
His mind . . . imperfectly
disciplined
by nature.
Macaulay.
3.
To improve by corrective and penal methods; to chastise; to correct.
Has he
disciplined
Aufidius soundly?
Shakespeare
Syn. – To train; form; teach; instruct; bring up; regulate; correct; chasten; chastise; punish.

Webster 1828 Edition

Discipline

DISCIPLINE

,
Noun.
[L., to learn.]
1.
Education; instruction; cultivation and improvement, comprehending instruction in arts, sciences, correct sentiments, morals and manners, and due subordination to authority.
2.
Instruction and government, comprehending the communication of knowledge and the regulation of practice; as military discipline, which includes instruction in manual exercise, evolutions and subordination.
3.
Rule of government; method of regulating principles and practice; as the discipline prescribed for the church.
4.
Subjection to laws, rules, order, precepts or regulations; as, the troops are under excellent discipline; the passions should be kept under strict discipline.
5.
Correction; chastisement; punishment intended to correct crimes or errors; as the discipline of the strap.
6.
In ecclesiastical affairs, the execution of the laws by which the church is governed, and infliction of the penalties enjoined against offenders, who profess the religion of Jesus Christ.
7.
Chastisement or bodily punishment inflicted on a delinquent in the Romish Church; or that chastisement or external mortification which a religious person inflicts on himself.

DISCIPLINE

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To instruct or educate; to inform the mind; to prepare by instructing in correct principles and habits; as, to discipline youth for a profession, or for future usefulness.
2.
To instruct and govern; to teach rules and practice, and accustom to order and subordination; as, to discipline troops or an army.
3.
To correct; to chastise; to punish.
4.
To execute the laws of the church on offenders, with a view to bring them to repentance and reformation of life.
5.
To advance and prepare by instruction.

Definition 2024

discipline

discipline

See also: discipliné

English

Noun

discipline ‎(plural disciplines)

  1. A controlled behaviour; self-control.
    • Rogers
      The most perfect, who have their passions in the best discipline, are yet obliged to be constantly on their guard.
  2. An enforced compliance or control.
    • 1956, Michael Arlen, chapter 1/1/2, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
      The masters looked unusually stern, but it was the sternness of thought rather than of discipline.
  3. A systematic method of obtaining obedience.
    • C. J. Smith
      Discipline aims at the removal of bad habits and the substitution of good ones, especially those of order, regularity, and obedience.
  4. A state of order based on submission to authority.
    • Dryden
      Their wildness lose, and, quitting nature's part, / Obey the rules and discipline of art.
  5. A punishment to train or maintain control.
    • Addison
      giving her the discipline of the strap
  6. (Catholicism): A whip used for self-flagellation.
  7. A set of rules regulating behaviour.
  8. A flagellation as a means of obtaining sexual gratification.
  9. A specific branch of knowledge or learning.
    • 2013 August 3, “Boundary problems”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
      Economics is a messy discipline: too fluid to be a science, too rigorous to be an art.
    • 1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick:
      This mathematical discipline, by the help of geometrical principles, doth teach to contrive several weights and powers unto motion or rest.
  10. A category in which a certain art, sport or other activity belongs.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

discipline ‎(third-person singular simple present disciplines, present participle disciplining, simple past and past participle disciplined)

  1. (transitive) To train someone by instruction and practice.
  2. (transitive) To teach someone to obey authority.
  3. (transitive) To punish someone in order to (re)gain control.
  4. (transitive) To impose order on someone.

Synonyms

Related terms

Translations

Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Hyphenation: dis‧ci‧pli‧ne

Noun

discipline f ‎(plural disciplines, diminutive disciplinetje n)

  1. discipline, sanction
  2. discipline, self-control
  3. discipline, branch

Synonyms

  • tucht
  • (self-control): zelfbeheersing
  • (branch): tak

Related terms

  • discipel
  • disciplinair
  • disciplineren
  • ongedisciplineerd

French

Pronunciation

Noun

discipline f ‎(plural disciplines)

  1. discipline, sanction
  2. discipline, self-control
  3. discipline, branch

Derived terms

Verb

discipline

  1. first-person singular present indicative of discipliner
  2. third-person singular present indicative of discipliner
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of discipliner
  4. first-person singular present subjunctive of discipliner
  5. second-person singular imperative of discipliner

Italian

Noun

discipline f pl

  1. plural of disciplina

Portuguese

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˌdi.si.ˈpli.ni/

Verb

discipline

  1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of disciplinar
  2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of disciplinar
  3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of disciplinar
  4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of disciplinar

Spanish

Verb

discipline

  1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of disciplinar.
  2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of disciplinar.
  3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of disciplinar.
  4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of disciplinar.

Etymology

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman, from Old French descipline, from Latin disciplina ‎(“instruction”) and discipulus ‎(“pupil”), from discere ‎(“to learn”), from Proto-Indo-European *dek- ‎(“(cause to) accept”).

Pronunciation

  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈdɪ.sə.plɪn/

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