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; our, self, -en ⁴, -s ³

Example Sentences

“And I think we’d better keep this monkey business to ourselves. If word gets out, every farmer in these hills will quit farming and start hunting monkeys. We can’t have that at all.”

From Literature

“We do not call for more magic than we have skill, because then we lose control of the outcome. We lose control of ourselves.”

From Literature

"It's certainly up there in the context of the game and the situation that we found ourselves."

From Barron's

"It's the best learning that we can do - to watch ourselves and how we interact - so that's been quite educational for me as well," she said.

From BBC

Ahead of boarding the plane on Tuesday night, Merz said Germany would continue its broader de-risking policy but that, "it would be a mistake for us to seek to decouple ourselves from China".

From BBC