Continence

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɒntɪnəns/

Definitions

1. The ability to control one's bodily functions, especially bladder and bowel, or the practice of self-restraint in desires and appetites
2. The quality of self-restraint regarding bodily functions or desires, encompassing both the control of physical urges and the moderation of emotional impulses
3. The state of exercising control over one's physical needs as well as one's emotional desires, reflecting a balance of bodily restraint and personal discipline

Etymology: The word that now names bladder control once meant something close to restraint of any kind. Its Latin ancestor, "continentia", was a noun for holding back or repressing, and it carried moral overtones of self-restraint, especially in desire and appetite, long before it was applied to the body. Medieval English borrowed the term through Old French "continence" in the 14th century, and it kept that older sense of self-mastery for centuries. The bodily meaning is the later, narrower one. Continence is the same word that gave us the adjective "continent" in the sense of self-controlled, and it shares its root with "contain", since both grow from Latin "continere", to hold together. Only once the sense of holding back narrowed to the bladder and bowels did the word settle into its modern medical use. Its close relative "countenance" comes from the same Latin family, though it took a separate route into English, which is why the two look and sound somewhat alike today.

Synonyms: self-control, restraint

Antonyms: indulgence, lack of restraint