ourselves

American  

[ahr-selvz, au^uhr-, au-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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ourselves

“It’s one of the biggest struggles of our lives right now, trying to make everyone happy but not lose ourselves in the process,” Buscema said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

There is a difference between burying your head in the sand and periodically reminding ourselves that the world can be beautiful and good.

From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2026

"We've got a vegetable garden. We grew everything we needed there. Everything ourselves, so we managed more or less. We shared with the neighbours," he said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026

Our country began with a quest for abundant land, and we now find ourselves facing self-inflicted housing shortages.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Obviously, those future versions of ourselves had known that we were going to end up in the stupid partner program, so why hadn’t they just told us what was coming?

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

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