Meaning & use
selfless
Last updated
Meaning
adjectivecomparableapproving
Putting other people's needs and wishes ahead of your own, without expecting anything back.
Grammar: Can come before a noun or after a verb: a selfless act, she is selfless.
Patterns
- selfless act of something
- selfless in something
The firefighter's selfless act saved three children.
She devoted her life to selfless service in the clinic.
It was selfless of him to give up his seat.
Word forms
| comparative | more selfless |
|---|---|
| superlative | most selfless |
Common combinations
- selfless act
- Donating a kidney to a stranger is a truly selfless act.
- selfless devotion
- The nurses showed selfless devotion during the crisis.
- selfless service
- He was honored for years of selfless service.
- completely selfless
- Her love for her children was completely selfless.
- selfless love
- Parents often show selfless love without noticing it.
Synonyms and how they differ
- unselfish
- Unselfish is the plain everyday word, while selfless suggests a deeper, almost heroic generosity.
- altruistic
- Altruistic is more formal and used for principles or motives, not just acts.
- generous
- Generous is about giving freely, often money or time, while selfless is about disregarding your own interests.
- self-sacrificing
- Self-sacrificing stresses giving up something important, while selfless need not involve loss.
Opposites
Word family
- selflessly adverb
- in a way that puts others first
- selflessness noun
- the quality of putting others first
- self noun
- a person's own identity
- selfish adjective
- caring only about yourself
Commonly confused: selfless or self-less?
selfless vs self-less
Do not write it with a hyphen; it is not formed like self-aware. The word means unselfish, not having no self.
Practice
Which person is described as selfless?
Choose one answer.
Selfless means putting others first, which fits the neighbor. The other options show selfish or careless behavior.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “selfless”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.