Meaning & use
selflessness
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
The quality of caring more about other people's needs than about your own.
Grammar: Uncountable; no plural form. Use 'an act of selflessness' for a single instance.
Patterns
- an act of selflessness
- with selflessness
- the selflessness of someone
Her selflessness in helping the refugees moved everyone.
He showed great selflessness by giving up his seat to the elderly woman.
The award recognized the selflessness of the volunteers.
Common combinations
- an act of selflessness
- Donating all his savings was an act of selflessness.
- show selflessness
- The nurse showed selflessness by staying late to care for the patient.
- selflessness and courage
- The soldiers were praised for their selflessness and courage.
Synonyms and how they differ
- altruism
- Altruism is a more formal, technical word for the same idea, often used in philosophy or biology.
- unselfishness
- Unselfishness is a close synonym but emphasizes not being selfish rather than positively caring for others.
Opposites
Word family
- selfless adjective
- Caring more about others than yourself.
- selflessly adverb
- In a selfless manner.
Commonly confused: selflessness or selfishness?
selflessness vs selfishness
Selfishness is the opposite: caring only about your own needs.
Practice
Her ______ in volunteering every weekend inspired others to join.
Choose one answer.
The sentence needs a noun after 'Her'; selflessness fits the meaning of caring for others. 'Selfishness' is the opposite meaning; 'selfless' is an adjective; 'selflessly' is an adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “selflessness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.