Selfish
['selfɪʃ] or ['sɛlfɪʃ]
Definition
(adj.) concerned chiefly or only with yourself and your advantage to the exclusion of others; 'Selfish men were...trying to make capital for themselves out of the sacred cause of civil rights'- Maria Weston Chapman .
Checked by Jo--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Caring supremely or unduly for one's self; regarding one's own comfort, advantage, etc., in disregard, or at the expense, of those of others.
(a.) Believing or teaching that the chief motives of human action are derived from love of self.
Typist: Mag
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. Illiberal, mean, sordid, mercenary, narrow, narrow-minded, self-seeking.
Typed by Annette
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Egotistical, self-minded, self-indulgent, self-worshipful, worldly, illiberal,ungenerous, narrowminded, mercenary, greedy
ANT:Disinterested, generous, unselfish, handsome, liberal, high-minded,self-denying, magnanimous, patriotic, public-spirited, considerate,accommodating
Editor: Sharon
Unserious Contents or Definition
adj. Devoid of consideration for the selfishness of others.
Inputed by Cornelia
Examples
- But with my three daughters, Emma, Jane, and Caroline--and my aged father--I cannot afford to be selfish. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- But I suppose I am a selfish fool. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Commonplace young ladies can be quite as hard as commonplace young gentlemen--quite as worldly and selfish. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- As a selfish man will impoverish his family and often bring them to ruin, so a selfish king brings ruin on his people and often plunges them into war. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- All children were so: a little anxious for novelty, and--no, not selfish, but self-willed. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Again I tell you it is not the insignificant private individual--the mere man, with the man's selfish senses--I wish to mate: it is the missionary. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- He has too much real feeling to address any woman on the haphazard of selfish passion. Jane Austen. Emma.
- She is a selfish, hypocritical woman, and I have no opinion of her. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- But if such selfish maxims hurt you, Then live your life of silly virtue. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- And she settled herself, resting against my arm--resting gently, not with honest Mistress Fanshawe's fatiguing and selfish weight. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- As to the settlement of poor papa's affairs, my interest in that is not very selfish. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- I suppose it is partly our fault that they are selfish, and act like spoiled children; but I've talked to St. Clare till I am tired. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- I am sure he will put you up to a plan of making that vile, shabby, selfish Duke of Beaufort treat you better. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- Then, as usual, she felt ashamed of her selfish thoughts and prayed inwardly to be strengthened to do her duty. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- He concluded that the foreign mill-owner was a selfish, an unfeeling, and, he thought, too, a foolish man. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Am I a nasty, cruel, selfish, bad mama? Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- A clergyman has nothing to do but be slovenly and selfish--read the newspaper, watch the weather, and quarrel with his wife. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Mammy is the best I ever knew, said Marie; and yet Mammy, now, is selfish--dreadfully selfish; it's the fault of the whole race. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- St. Clare means well, I am bound to believe; but men are constitutionally selfish and inconsiderate to woman. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Unfeeling, selfish girl! Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- All men, taken singly, are more or less selfish; and taken in bodies, they are intensely so. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- You two are restless, meddling, impudent scoundrels, whose chief motive-principle is a selfish ambition, as dangerous as it is puerile. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- But between ourselves, Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a petty way as ever came before me. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.
- Fred Lamb's passion increased daily; but I discovered, on our arrival in London, that he was a voluptuary, somewhat worldly and selfish. Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- You were exacting, proud, punctilious, selfish. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- In that long absence of ten years, the most selfish will think about home and early ties. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- What a face she had--so comely--so insolent and so selfish! Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- He is the most fearful of giving pain, of wounding expectation, and the most incapable of being selfish, of any body I ever saw. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Those of a tradesman, returned the rector--narrow, selfish, and unpatriotic. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
Inputed by Cornelia