Meaning & use
selfishness
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
The quality of caring mainly about your own needs or wishes and not about other people.
Grammar: Uncountable; used with singular verbs and no article when speaking generally.
Patterns
- selfishness in someone
- an act of selfishness
- out of selfishness
His selfishness hurt the whole team.
She was shocked by the selfishness of the decision.
It was an act of pure selfishness.
noununcountable
Behavior that puts your own interests before the needs of others.
Grammar: Can be used with 'the' when referring to a specific instance.
Patterns
- the selfishness of someone
- accuse someone of selfishness
The selfishness of the rich was criticized in the article.
They accused him of selfishness.
Common combinations
- pure selfishness
- Leaving without helping was pure selfishness.
- act of selfishness
- Taking the last seat was an act of selfishness.
- accuse someone of selfishness
- She accused her brother of selfishness.
- out of selfishness
- He refused to share out of selfishness.
Synonyms and how they differ
- egotism
- More formal; focuses on thinking too highly of yourself, not just on wanting your own way.
- greed
- Specifically about wanting more money or things than you need.
- self-centeredness
- Similar, but stresses being focused on yourself rather than actively harming others.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: selfishness or self-care?
selfishness vs self-care
Self-care means looking after your own health and well-being, which is positive and does not necessarily harm others; selfishness ignores others' needs.
Practice
Which sentence is correct?
Choose one answer.
Selfishness is uncountable, so it takes a singular verb and no 'a'. 'His selfishness caused problems' is correct.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “selfishness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.