Adjacent Words

Discipline definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DISCIPLINE, n. [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, v.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.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a branch of knowledge; "in what discipline is his doctorate?"; "teachers should be well trained in their subject"; "anthropology is the study of human beings" [syn: discipline, subject, subject area, subject field, field, field of study, study, bailiwick]
2: a system of rules of conduct or method of practice; "he quickly learned the discipline of prison routine"; "for such a plan to work requires discipline";
3: the trait of being well behaved; "he insisted on discipline among the troops" [ant: indiscipline, undiscipline]
4: training to improve strength or self-control
5: the act of punishing; "the offenders deserved the harsh discipline they received" [syn: discipline, correction] v
1: develop (children's) behavior by instruction and practice; especially to teach self-control; "Parents must discipline their children"; "Is this dog trained?" [syn: discipline, train, check, condition]
2: punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience; "The teacher disciplined the pupils rather frequently" [syn: discipline, correct, sort out]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Latin; Anglo-French, from Latin disciplina teaching, learning, from discipulus pupil Date: 13th century 1. punishment 2. obsolete instruction 3. a field of study 4. training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character 5. a. control gained by enforcing obedience or order b. orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior c. self-control 6. a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity • disciplinal adjective II. transitive verb (-plined; -plining) Date: 14th century 1. to punish or penalize for the sake of discipline 2. to train or develop by instruction and exercise especially in self-control 3. a. to bring (a group) under control <discipline troops> b. to impose order upon <serious writers discipline and refine their writing styles> Synonyms: see punish, teach • discipliner noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a control or order exercised over people or animals, esp. children, prisoners, military personnel, church members, etc. b the system of rules used to maintain this control. c the behaviour of groups subjected to such rules (poor discipline in the ranks). 2 a mental, moral, or physical training. b adversity as used to bring about such training (left the course because he couldn't take the discipline). 3 a branch of instruction or learning (philosophy is a hard discipline). 4 punishment. 5 Eccl. mortification by physical self-punishment, esp. scourging. --v.tr. 1 punish, chastise. 2 bring under control by training in obedience; drill. Derivatives: disciplinable adj. disciplinal adj. Etymology: ME f. OF discipliner or LL & med.L disciplinare, disciplina f. discipulus DISCIPLE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(disciplines, disciplining, disciplined) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. Discipline is the practice of making people obey rules or standards of behaviour, and punishing them when they do not. Order and discipline have been placed in the hands of headmasters and governing bodies. N-UNCOUNT 2. Discipline is the quality of being able to behave and work in a controlled way which involves obeying particular rules or standards. It was that image of calm and discipline that appealed to voters. = self-control N-UNCOUNT 3. If you refer to an activity or situation as a discipline, you mean that, in order to be successful in it, you need to behave in a strictly controlled way and obey particular rules or standards. The discipline of studying music can help children develop good work habits. N-VAR 4. If someone is disciplined for something that they have done wrong, they are punished for it. The workman was disciplined by his company but not dismissed... Her husband had at last taken a share in disciplining the boy. VERB: be V-ed, V n 5. If you discipline yourself to do something, you train yourself to behave and work in a strictly controlled and regular way. Out on the course you must discipline yourself to let go of detailed theory... I'm very good at disciplining myself. VERB: V pron-refl to-inf, V pron-refl 6. A discipline is a particular area of study, especially a subject of study in a college or university. (FORMAL) We're looking for people from a wide range of disciplines. = subject N-COUNT 7. see also self-discipline

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

dis'-i-plin (mucar): In the King James Version only in Job 36:10, where it refers to moral discipline, the strenuous cultivation of the righteous life; the Revised Version (British and American) "instruction." the Revised Version (British and American) in 2Ti 1:7 has "discipline" for a Greek word (sophronismos) meaning "sobering"; in 2Ti 3:16 margin, for Greek paideia, "instruction." In classic Greek paideia means "education," mental culture. Through the influence of the Septuagint, which translates the Hebrew mucar by paideia, the meaning of "chastisement" accompanies paideia in the New Testament. Compare Heb 12:5,7,8,11.

See CHASTISEMENT; and for ecclesiastical discipline see CHURCH.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Training, drilling, drill, exercise, diligent practice. 2. Control, regulation, government, good order, subjection. 3. Branch of knowledge, elements of culture. 4. Punishment, chastisement, correction. 5. Rule of practice, regulations. II. v. a. 1. Instruct, train, breed, educate, teach, drill, exercise, form, bring up. 2. Regulate, control, govern, school, bring under subjection. 3. Punish, chastise, correct.

Moby Thesaurus

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