oneself
Americanpronoun
idioms
-
by oneself,
-
without a companion; alone.
-
through one's own efforts; unaided.
to become a millionaire by oneself.
-
-
be oneself,
-
to be in one's normal state of mind or physical condition.
-
to be unaffected and sincere.
One makes more friends by being oneself than by putting on airs.
-
-
come to oneself, Also come to one's self
-
Also come to. to regain consciousness.
-
to regain one's self-possession; come to one's senses.
-
pronoun
Etymology
Origin of oneself
First recorded in 1540–50; shortened form of one's self
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.
We need to stop thinking of college as a time to find oneself and recast it as a period of intellectual development that precedes our more formative mid- to late 20s.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
Cleanliness and cleaning up after oneself in public places is deeply ingrained in Japanese culture.
From BBC ● Jun. 19, 2026
Judge Winmill observed that the nation’s history and traditions recognized “a right to self-protection and self-preservation” permitting otherwise unlawful acts “when necessary to prevent harm to oneself or another.”
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2026
Perhaps you can see how the metaphors between the backrooms and the internet itself multiply from here: Like the backrooms, one can lose oneself forever in the internet.
From Salon ● Jun. 8, 2026
It presupposed that somewhere or other, outside oneself, there was a “real” world where “real” things happened.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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.
