self-gratification
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of self-gratification
First recorded in 1670–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Crucially, these collected lyrics aren’t an exercise in self-gratification; Sondheim is insightful and unsparing about his own mistakes, even the ones that only he is smart enough to see.
From Slate • Nov. 18, 2019
They may not use his particular cover and cast pitiless self-gratification as a healing touch.
From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2018
“There’s a lot of self-gratification in helping people. I can’t believe people send us thank-you notes for something we get paid to do.”
From Washington Times • Feb. 6, 2017
When you visit a farm-to-table restaurant and order the wild-nettle sformato for thirty dollars, the line between social consciousness and self-gratification disappears.
From The New Yorker • Oct. 24, 2016
His passions were violent; as these often obtained the mastery over him, he could not always square his conduct to the obvious line of self-interest, but self-gratification at least was the paramount object with him.
From The Last Man by Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
