Add discretion to one of your lists below, or create a new one. Improve your vocabulary with English Vocabulary in Use from Cambridge. Learn the words you need to communicate with confidence. Beating up, ganging up on and putting someone down: phrasal verbs for bad behaviour 2. Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English. Click on the arrows to change the translation direction. Follow us.

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To save this word, you'll need to log in. It is as if I am always waiting for them and am here at their discretion. The coach used his own discretion to let the injured quarterback play.
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The overriding theme of the hundreds of interviews Newman had granted is his discretion. And so we get policies where parents are given no discretion over whether or not to keep their kids home. How from now on we were going to be seeing in Prince Harry nothing but a model of discretion , seriousness and best behaviour? This fact was revealed with a flourish during a Life Lesson on the importance of discretion , which is a story for another day. The Tarthan swordsman, well up on the principles of discretion , felt a sudden urge to be quit of this locality. His landlady interrupted his gaze to know what he would have for dinner, but he declined to use any discretion in the matter. I never gave Jock credit for discretion , but, faith, he seems to have gone with a keen eye to the market for once in his life! Her blood was up now; anger had got the better of discretion. Discretion is a quality of the heart—solely a quality of the heart; it acts upon us through feeling.
Discretion has the meaning of acting on one's own authority and judgment. In law, discretion as to legal rulings , such as whether evidence is excluded at a trial, may be exercised by a judge. Some view discretion negatively, while some view it positively. Discretion exists at all levels of law enforcement and in many types of front-line bureaucrats. Discretion has been called "the Art of suiting the action to particular circumstances" Lord Scarman. Those in a position of power are most often able to exercise discretion as to how they will apply or exercise that power.