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Glite Dictionary
to remember oneself

to remember oneself

6.8
To calm down and behave politely again after briefly losing control
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : recuperar la compostura
  • After his outburst, he took a deep breath and finally remembered himself, apologizing for his behavior.

Examples

  • But, "Why don't we start with the Chardonnay?" Bill said smoothly, and Andre, remembering himself, nodded quickly and departed.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Realizing he was being rude, Jay paused and remembered himself, regaining his composure during the meeting.

  • When she realized that her reaction was inappropriate, she quickly remembered herself and calmed down.

Synonyms

to pull oneself together
vsto remember oneself
  • Informal
81 5.1

Get control of your feelings and calm down after being upset

focuses on returning to proper polite behavior after a social lapse
to catch oneself
vsto remember oneself
20 6.0

Stop yourself quickly from saying or doing something you might regret

regain control after a lapse rather than only stopping a momentary action

Antonyms

to lose it
  • Informal
289 7.5

Suddenly stop controlling your feelings and become very angry or upset

How Composed

to pull oneself together
  • Informal
81 5.1
to remember oneself
6.8
to compose
33 4.7
steadying
1 3.8

Surface Forms

remember oneself infinitive
remembered oneself past
remembered oneself past participle
remembering oneself present participle
remembers oneself third person singular

Morphology

remember + oneself

The literal meanings of 'remember' (be mindful/recall) and 'oneself' (reflexive) give a plausible inference: to 'remember oneself' can be understood as becoming mindful of one's own behavior and thus regaining control. However, the specific pragmatic sense 'regain self-control / behave properly' is an extended, partly idiomatic use of 'remember' and is not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Remember oneself may come from the image of bringing your calm back to you. Remember means to call something back to mind and oneself shows it is your own behavior being called back, so the phrase means 'to regain self-control'.