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discipline - 5 dictionary results

dis⋅ci⋅pline

  [dis-uh-plin] noun, verb, -plined, -plin⋅ing.
Use discipline in a Sentence
–noun
1. training to act in accordance with rules; drill: military discipline.
2. activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill; training: A daily stint at the typewriter is excellent discipline for a writer.
3. punishment inflicted by way of correction and training.
4. the rigor or training effect of experience, adversity, etc.: the harsh discipline of poverty.
5. behavior in accord with rules of conduct; behavior and order maintained by training and control: good discipline in an army.
6. a set or system of rules and regulations.
7. Ecclesiastical. the system of government regulating the practice of a church as distinguished from its doctrine.
8. an instrument of punishment, esp. a whip or scourge, used in the practice of self-mortification or as an instrument of chastisement in certain religious communities.
9. a branch of instruction or learning: the disciplines of history and economics.
–verb (used with object)
10. to train by instruction and exercise; drill.
11. to bring to a state of order and obedience by training and control.
12. to punish or penalize in order to train and control; correct; chastise.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME < AF < L disciplīna instruction, tuition, equiv. to discipul(us) disciple + -ina -ine 2

Related forms:
dis⋅ci⋅pli⋅nal  [dis-uh-pluh-nl, -plin-l, dis-uh-plahyn-l] , adjective
dis⋅ci⋅plin⋅er, noun

Synonyms:
3. chastisement, castigation. 12. See punish.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To discipline
dis·ci·pline   (dĭs'ə-plĭn)   
n.  
  1. Training expected to produce a specific character or pattern of behavior, especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.
  2. Controlled behavior resulting from disciplinary training; self-control.
    1. Control obtained by enforcing compliance or order.
    2. A systematic method to obtain obedience: a military discipline.
    3. A state of order based on submission to rules and authority: a teacher who demanded discipline in the classroom.
  4. Punishment intended to correct or train.
  5. A set of rules or methods, as those regulating the practice of a church or monastic order.
  6. A branch of knowledge or teaching.
tr.v.   dis·ci·plined, dis·ci·plin·ing, dis·ci·plines
  1. To train by instruction and practice, especially to teach self-control to.
  2. To teach to obey rules or accept authority. See Synonyms at teach.
  3. To punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience. See Synonyms at punish.
  4. To impose order on: needed to discipline their study habits.

[Middle English, from Old French descepline, from Latin disciplīna, from discipulus, pupil; see disciple.]
dis'ci·pli·nal (-plə-nəl) adj., dis'ci·plin'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Discipline

Dis`ci*pline\, n. [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 ?s. --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.

9. (Eccl.) A system of essential rules and duties; as, the Romish or Anglican discipline.

Syn: Education; instruction; training; culture; correction; chastisement; punishment.

Discipline

Dis"ci*pline\, v. 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? --Shak.

4. To inflict ecclesiastical censures and penalties upon.

Syn: To train; form; teach; instruct; bring up; regulate; correct; chasten; chastise; punish.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : discipline
Spanish: disciplina,
German: die Erziehung,
Japanese: 訓練
More Translations »

discipline 
c.1225, from O.Fr. descepline, from L. disciplina "instruction given to a disciple," from discipulus (see disciple). Sense of "treatment that corrects or punishes" is from notion of "order necessary for instruction." The L. word is glossed in O.E. by þeodscipe.Meaning "branch of instruction or education" is first recorded c.1386. Meaning "military training" is from 1489; that of "orderly conduct as a result of training" is from 1509. The verb is attested from c.1300. Disciplinarian "one who enforces order" is first attested 1639; earlier used of Puritans who wanted to establish the Presbyterian "discipline" in England (c.1585).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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