selfishness

Noun

Meaning

The quality or state of being selfish; exclusive regard to one's own interest or happiness; that supreme self-love or self-preference which leads a person to direct his purposes to the advancement of his own interest, power, or happiness, without regarding those of others.

Source: Webster's dictionary

Synonyms

meanness ego greed individualism self-esteem egoism vanity parsimony avarice conceit egotism narrowness megalomania misanthropy selfishly
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Antonyms

selflessness unselfishness amity grace advantage aid
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Hypernyms

stinginess

Hyponyms

expedience greediness self-interest self-seeking opportunism rapaciousness

Phrases with the word

apparent selfishness social selfishness unparalleled selfishness human selfishness

Examples

It is folly to abstain all day long from food, but fail to abstain from sin and selfishness. John Chrysostom

Selfishness doesn't consist in a love to yourself, but in a big degree of such love. Aristotle

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith

Selfishness is not living your life as you wish to live it. Selfishness is wanting others to live their lives as you wish them to. Oscar Wilde

Your conscience is the measure of the honesty of your selfishness. Listen to it carefully. Richard Bach

Selfishness is the greatest curse of the human race. William Ewart Gladstone

Close letter words and terms

selfish gene selfish person selfishly selfism selfist selfitis