Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Concerned chiefly or only with oneself and one's own advantage: Characterized by a primary focus on one's own personal benefit, pleasure, or welfare, often without regard for the needs or well-being of others.

Usage and Examples

• Adjective:
  • His selfish refusal to share the tools delayed the entire project.
  • It was a selfish decision, made without considering how it would affect her family.
  • The child's selfish behavior of hoarding all the toys is something we are trying to correct.

Advanced Usage

• "To act out of selfish motives": To behave based on a desire for personal gain.
  • The politician was accused of acting out of selfish motives rather than public interest.
• "Selfish to the core": Describes someone whose character is fundamentally and consistently selfish.
  • He is charming, but I fear he is selfish to the core.

Variants and Related Words

• Selfishly (adverb): In a manner that shows concern only for oneself.
  • He selfishly took the last piece of cake without asking if anyone else wanted it.
• Selfishness (noun): The quality or state of being selfish.
  • Her selfishness eventually cost her many friendships.

Synonyms

• Self-centered: Excessively focused on oneself and one's own affairs.
• Egotistical: Characterized by an exaggerated sense of self-importance.
• Greedy: Having an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth or possessions.

Antonyms

• Selfless: Concerned more with the needs and wishes of others than with one's own.
• Altruistic: Showing a selfless concern for the well-being of others.
• Generous: Showing a readiness to give more of something, especially money or time, than is strictly necessary or expected.

Idioms and Phrases

• "Selfish gene": A concept in evolutionary biology suggesting that genes act as if their primary goal is their own replication, often used metaphorically to describe self-interested behavior.
  • The book "The Selfish Gene" popularized this evolutionary theory.
• "To look out for number one": (Idiom with similar meaning) To prioritize one's own interests above all else.
  • In that cutthroat industry, you have to look out for number one.

Adjective

1. 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