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.
Sacrifice and altruism are lost and it becomes all about immediate self-gratification.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
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
All those things that depended on worldly ambition, self-gratification, physical pleasure, conceit, lust, hatred, passion, egotism, selfishness, vanity, avarice, sensuality and so on, are undermined and rendered paralysed by the germ.
From The Blue Germ by Maurice Nicoll
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.
