Meaning & use
self-dealing
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountablelegaldisapproving
Conduct in which someone who is meant to act for others, such as a trustee or director, makes deals that mainly benefit themselves.
Grammar: No plural: the board was accused of self-dealing.
Patterns
- accused of self-dealing
- self-dealing by someone
The judge found the trustee guilty of self-dealing after he sold the trust's land to himself.
Shareholders sued the director for self-dealing.
Self-dealing is forbidden under the company's code of conduct.
adjectivebefore a nounlegal
Describing a transaction or person that puts the personal gain of the decision-maker first.
Grammar: Used before a noun: a self-dealing transaction.
Patterns
- a self-dealing transaction
The self-dealing contract gave her brother's firm the work.
Auditors flagged several self-dealing arrangements in the report.
He resigned over a self-dealing loan from the bank.
Common combinations
- accused of self-dealing
- The manager was accused of self-dealing after the property sale.
- engage in self-dealing
- Directors must not engage in self-dealing.
- a self-dealing transaction
- The court cancelled the self-dealing transaction.
- prohibit self-dealing
- The new rules prohibit self-dealing by trustees.
- allegations of self-dealing
- Allegations of self-dealing damaged the charity's reputation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- conflict of interest
- A conflict of interest is a situation where duties clash with personal gain, while self-dealing is the act of exploiting it.
- corruption
- Corruption is broader and often involves bribery, whereas self-dealing is specifically about arranging deals that benefit yourself.
- embezzlement
- Embezzlement means stealing money entrusted to you, while self-dealing can be an apparently proper deal that is unfair.
- insider dealing
- Insider dealing is trading shares using secret information, which is different from favoring yourself in a transaction.
Opposites
Word family
- deal noun
- an agreement or transaction
- dealer noun
- a person who buys and sells
- self-interest noun
- concern for your own advantage
- self-serving adjective
- acting only for your own benefit
Commonly confused: self-dealing or self-serving?
self-dealing vs self-serving
Self-serving describes behavior that benefits yourself in general, while self-dealing is a specific legal breach of duty.
Practice
A trustee sells a trust's building to his own company at a very low price. This is an example of ____.
Choose one answer.
Self-dealing means arranging a deal that benefits the person handling others' assets. Insider dealing is about secret share information, and fair dealing is the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-dealing”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.