From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishdeny yourself (something)deny yourself (something)NOT HAVEto decide not to have something that you would like, especially for moral or religious reasons He denied himself all pleasures and luxuries. → deny
Examples from the Corpus
deny yourself (something)• A psychoanalyst would perhaps say that we learn to deny ourselves this satisfaction in favour of more sublimated pleasures.• To leave self behind does not just mean denying oneself.• The left-armer denied himself a sixth by wasting a cowardly bouncer on Malcolm.• He was the first to deny himself comfort and sleep.• Stop denying yourself food, stop eating carrots when what you really want is carrot cake.• They were not used to denying themselves much; they were not used to journeys on foot.• Isabel had told her, unable to deny herself the relief of letting the truth out at last.• Low-performing organizations deny themselves this counsel. 