self-serving

[self-sur-ving]

adjective

1. preoccupied with one's own interests, often disregarding the truth or the interests, well-being, etc., of others.

2. serving to further one's own selfish interests.

self-serving

adjective

1. habitually seeking one's own advantage, esp at the expense of others

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-serving¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

Known for playing the self-serving patriarch Frank Gallagher in TV series “Shameless,” Macy returns to the screen in the historical drama “Train Dreams.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This self-serving quotation has the ring of a memory fashioned in retrospect.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The Senate’s self-serving maneuver is not only tone-deaf, it’s a betrayal.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

So does—to one’s great surprise—Nile, whom the wondrous Mr. Rhys makes both menacing and charming and, quite critically, a friend to Aggie, never mind how self-serving his friendship might be.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“There’s going to be a lot of people, if they look and understand this, are going to see it as self-serving, self-dealing kind of stuff,” Roy said.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• boastful 
• pompous 
• self-absorbed 
• selfish 
• subjective