Meaning & use
self-giving
Last updated
Meanings
adjectivecomparableformal
Willing to give your own time, energy or comfort fully for others without expecting anything back.
Grammar: Usually before a noun: a self-giving mother.
Patterns
- a self-giving person
Her self-giving care for the sick earned the whole village's respect.
The author describes love as self-giving rather than possessive.
He admired the self-giving spirit of the volunteers.
noununcountableformalrare
The act of devoting yourself entirely to another person or cause.
Grammar: No plural: love shown through self-giving.
Patterns
- act of self-giving
The sermon spoke of self-giving as the heart of friendship.
True partnership depends on mutual self-giving.
Common combinations
- self-giving love
- The poem celebrates self-giving love.
- self-giving service
- Nurses showed self-giving service during the crisis.
- an act of self-giving
- Donating a kidney was an act of self-giving.
- self-giving attitude
- A self-giving attitude helps a team through hard times.
Synonyms and how they differ
- selfless
- Selfless is the everyday word, while self-giving stresses the active gift of oneself.
- self-sacrificing
- Self-sacrificing suggests giving up something painful, whereas self-giving is more positive in tone.
- generous
- Generous often refers to money, but self-giving suggests giving your time and energy.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: self-giving or self-serving?
self-giving vs self-serving
Self-serving means acting only to benefit yourself, which is the opposite of self-giving.
Practice
Which person is best described as self-giving?
Choose one answer.
Self-giving means devoting yourself to others without reward. The manager and the others are acting in their own interest.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-giving”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.