ourselves

American  

[ahr-selvz, ou^uhr-, ou-er-] / ɑrˈsɛlvz, aʊər-, ˌaʊ ər- /

pronoun

1. a reflexive form of we (used as the direct or indirect object of a verb or the direct object of a preposition).

   We are deceiving ourselves. Give us a moment to ourselves.

2. (used as an intensive withwe ).

   We ourselves would never say such a thing.

3. Informal. (used in place of we or us, especially in compound subjects, objects, and complements).

   The children and ourselves thank you kindly. When it satisfies ourselves, it will be ready to market. The ones who really want the new system are the manager and ourselves.

4. (used in place of we or us after as, than, orbut ).

   How many parents are as fortunate as ourselves? No one loves skiing more than ourselves. Nobody heard it but ourselves.

5. our customary, normal, or healthy selves.

   After a good rest, we're almost ourselves again.

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ourselves British  

/ aʊəˈsɛlvz /

pronoun

1. 1. the reflexive form of we or us

   2. (intensifier)

      we ourselves will finish it

2. (preceded by a copula) our usual selves

   we are ourselves when we're together

3. not_standard used instead of we or us in compound noun phrases

   other people and ourselves

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Usage

See myself.

Etymology

Origin of ourselves

1300–50; Middle English oure selven; see our, self, -en ⁴, -s ³

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ourselves

“Like we are not standing by ourselves, we are a legion, basically.”

From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2026

What did we need him for when we could just buy the Bitcoin ourselves and deprive him of the arbitrage?

From Slate ● Sep. 20, 2026

“Then one group in our industry kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

The sister of Hollywood actor Matthew Rhys said her family had been "pinching ourselves all week" following his historic Emmy success.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

He knows it’s only a matter of time before we’ll find it ourselves.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold