From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishself-respectˌself-reˈspect noun [uncountable] PRIDE/SELF-RESPECTa feeling of being happy about your character, abilities, and beliefs → self-esteem It’s difficult to keep your self-respect when you have been unemployed for a long time.
Examples from the Corpus
self-respect• Serious illness often results in a loss of confidence and self-respect.• Poetry, popular culture and self-respect.• Her pride and self-respect demanded it.• Tom's job teaching young kids gives him pride and self-respect.• Soon after the brouhaha, San Diegans' civic self-respect could soar.• You have to have a little dignity and a little self-respect.• Obviously, self-respect was not the same as disrespect.• It was where physical prowess was under constant assessment and where a boy's self-respect could be built up or crushed.• Yet its impact in allowing ordinary retired workers some self-respect was enormous.• Those who retained sufficient self-respect and sense of responsibility to think of the future were filled with the deepest apprehension. 