self-serving

adjective

self-serv·​ing ˌself-ˈsər-viŋ 

: serving one's own interests often in disregard of the truth or the interests of others

self-servingly adverb

Synonyms of self-serving

• selfish

Examples of self-serving in a Sentence

she's just another self-serving politician who puts her own ambitions above the public good

Recent Examples on the Web

Learning that countless more people will lose their lives on account of his neglect, greed, and stupidity, he is pressed, reluctantly, into a most self-serving mode of damage control. — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2026

Dozens of people have accused Combs of playing games with their lives, sometimes for self-serving business reasons, other times for his own amusement. — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 21 Sep. 2026

Who’s dismantling institutional conventions faster than those towers fell — and replacing them with his largely self-serving own. — Rachel Marsden, Hartford Courant, 18 Sep. 2026

While Amodei's manifesto was self-serving , these weekend headlines are nevertheless reverberating in Monday's market. — Jim Cramer, CNBC, 14 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1615, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for self-serving

• conserving
• deserving
• observing
• preserving
• reserving
• subserving
• unnerving
• unswerving
• curving
• serving
• swerving
• undeserving