selfishness

American  

[sel-fish-nis] / ˈsɛl fɪʃ nɪs /

noun

1. the quality or state of caring only for oneself or one’s own interests.

   The author rants at length about the selfishness and general disregard for others that he sees at the root of modern society.

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Etymology

Origin of selfishness

selfish ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )

Compare meaning

How does selfishness compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• self-interest vs. selfishness

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

selfishness

Until that inevitable conclusion, I’ll be rooting for Max Cady’s campaign against the Bowdens’ vortex of selfishness, which is entirely OK to do.

From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2026

Or was his quest for power rooted in sheer petty selfishness?

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026

She argued that "one person's phone going off shatters that for everybody" and so disrupting the experience is "an act of extreme selfishness".

From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026

Cerf “wasn’t afraid to tell her that he considered her philosophy of rational selfishness ‘abhorrent,’” Ms. Feldman writes, “but at the same time, he promised that if RH published her, ‘nobody’ would be a censor.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 30, 2026

He was behaving with the beastly selfishness of Man, taking all he could get from one quarter, and then, when that was used, going to another.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

Related Words

• greed
• self-indulgence