selfish Hear it!

selfish Definition

self·ish (sel′fis̸h)

adjective

  1. too much concerned with one's own welfare or interests and having little or no concern for others; self-centered
  2. showing or prompted by self-interest

selfish Related Forms

self′·ishly adverb self′·ish·ness noun

selfish Synonyms

selfish

modif.

  1. Centered in self

    self-seeking, self-centered, self-indulgent, indulging oneself, wrapped up in oneself, narrow, narrow-minded, prejudiced, egotistical, egoistical, egoistic, egotistic, looking out for number one*.

  2. Niggardly

    miserly, stingy, parsimonious; see greedy 1.

selfish Usage Examples

Adjective complement with noun phrase

make: He makes men naturally selfish; he represents them as pursuing wealth for sordid objects, and for the narrowest personal pleasures.

Infinitive complement

think: It isn't selfish to think this: it's responsible.

Modifies a noun

  • memes: Who is to do battle with the selfish memes?
  • individualism: We must show, for example, that personal responsibility does not mean selfish individualism.
  • replicators: We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators ' .
  • motive: Work for God must be without any selfish motive or the crown will slip from the hand.
  • ambition: He tells them not to do anything from selfish ambition or from cheap desire to boast.
  • bastard: I had to swallow the fact that I was a selfish bastard.

Modifying Another Word

  • purely: For purely selfish reasons, of course, I couldn't wait for this smoking ban to go ahead.
  • inherently: Nor does it imply a belief that people are inherently selfish and that their votes can be bought by tax-cutting bribery.
  • utterly: My tolerance of golfers is, of course, utterly selfish.
  • fundamentally: The Freudian concept of human beings as fundamentally selfish and instinct driven has been fostered by business because it produces ideal consumers.
  • incredibly: Spend it on a nice big car a nice big house, probably a helicopter, er, yes I'd be incredibly selfish.
  • essentially: Can Melissa triumph over her essentially selfish nature, and do the honorable thing?

Used with adjective complement

  • appear: At the beginning, she appeared almost selfish ( I felt ).
  • seem: Cooperation is common in nature, but the puzzle why it would evolve when survival seems selfish.
  • feel: I felt quite selfish about it actually, like they were my own secret band.
  • sound: Good luck:- ) - Steve You sound very selfish to me.
  • become: You made us rise above ourselves, to become less selfish, to think of others first, to make an effort.
  • bear: Let us try to teach generosity and altruism, because we are born selfish.