discipline

1. 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”

   Synonymssubjectsubject areasubject fieldfieldfield of studystudybailiwick

   Broaderknowledge domain

   Narroweroccultismcommunicationsmajorfrontiergenealogyallometrybiblioticsologysciencearchitecture
2. 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”

   Broadersystem
3. 3.

   the trait of being well behaved

   “he insisted on discipline among the troops”

   Antonymsindiscipline

   Broadertrait

   Narrowerself-disciplinerestraint
4. 4.

   training to improve strength or self-control

   Broadertraining

   Narroweryoga
5. 5.

   the act of disciplining

   “the offenders deserved the harsh discipline they received”

   Synonymscorrection

   Broaderpunishment

   Narrowerspanking

1. 1.

   develop (a child's or animal's) behavior by instruction and practice; especially to teach self-control

   “Parents must discipline their children”

   “Is this dog trained?”

   Synonymstraincheckcondition

   Broaderdevelop

   Narrowermortify
2. 2.

   punish in order to gain control or enforce obedience

   “The teacher disciplined the pupils rather frequently”

   Synonymscorrectsort out

   Broaderpunish

Other forms of discipline

plural

disciplines·

past tense

disciplined·

present participle

disciplining·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about discipline

What does discipline mean?

discipline means "a branch of knowledge". That is the primary sense; the word has 7 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in discipline?

discipline has 3 syllables: dis-ci-pline. The stress falls on "dis". In IPA it is /ˈdɪsəplən/.

What is another word for discipline?

Close synonyms include subject, subject area, subject field, field, field of study. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

What is the opposite of discipline?

The recorded antonyms are indiscipline.

Is discipline a common word?

discipline is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.