Meaning & use
egoistic
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Meanings
adjectivecomparabledisapproving
Concerned mainly with your own interests, wishes and advantage, with little thought for other people.
Grammar: Can come before a noun or after be: an egoistic motive, his behavior was egoistic.
Patterns
- egoistic about something
- an egoistic motive
His egoistic decision to sell the family home angered his sisters.
She admitted that her kindness had an egoistic motive: she wanted praise.
An egoistic manager rarely shares credit with the team.
adjectivebefore a nountechnical
Relating to the philosophical view that people always act from self-interest.
Grammar: Used in philosophy to describe a theory, not a person's character.
Patterns
- egoistic theory
The philosopher defended an egoistic theory of human motivation.
Egoistic ethics says an action is right if it benefits the person acting.
Critics call the argument egoistic because it denies true generosity.
Word forms
| comparative | more egoistic |
|---|---|
| superlative | most egoistic |
Common combinations
- egoistic motives
- He claimed to help the charity, but his motives were egoistic.
- egoistic behavior
- Egoistic behavior can damage friendships over time.
- egoistic attitude
- Her egoistic attitude made teamwork difficult.
- egoistic desire
- It was an egoistic desire for fame that drove him.
- egoistic person
- An egoistic person rarely asks how others are feeling.
Synonyms and how they differ
- selfish
- Selfish is the common everyday word for putting yourself first, whereas egoistic sounds more formal and analytical.
- self-centered
- Self-centered describes someone who sees everything in relation to themselves, while egoistic stresses pursuing their own interests.
- egotistic
- Egotistic stresses boasting and self-importance, while egoistic stresses acting for one's own benefit.
- self-serving
- Self-serving describes actions or statements that mainly help the speaker, rather than a general personality.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: egoistic or egotistic?
egoistic vs egotistic
Egotistic describes someone who boasts and thinks they are better than others, while egoistic describes acting mainly to benefit oneself.
Practice
Which person is best described as egoistic?
Choose one answer.
Egoistic describes a person whose actions are driven by their own interests. Volunteering is the opposite, and the other options describe unrelated traits.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “egoistic”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.