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definitions

self-gratification

[self-grat-uh-fi-key-shuh n, self-]
See more synonyms for self-gratification on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of pleasing or satisfying oneself, especially the gratifying of one's own impulses, needs, or desires.

Origin of self-gratification

First recorded in 1670–80
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for self-gratification

intemperance, indulgence, profligacy, dissolution, abandonment, evil, extravagance, dissoluteness, drunkenness, excess, lavishness, prodigality, waste, debauchery, self-gratification, free-living

Examples from the Web for self-gratification

Contemporary Examples of self-gratification

  • The only symptoms of his condition were his doubts about God and an obsession with ‘self-gratification.’

    The Daily Beast logo
    The Devil and Antonin Scalia

    Candida Moss

    October 8, 2013

Historical Examples of self-gratification

  • Coquetry is the desire to please, as a means of self-gratification.

    Luttrell Of Arran

    Charles James Lever

  • The pursuit of pleasure, self-gratification, is an original instinct with her.

    Anna the Adventuress

    E. Phillips Oppenheim

  • McGillivrays only idea of right was that of self-gratification.

  • He eagerly snatched at an occasion at once of self-gratification, and of humiliating his proud and arrogant brother.

  • She came of a race of women to whom self-sacrifice was more natural than self-gratification.

    By the Light of the Soul

    Mary E. Wilkins Freeman