selfish

adjective self·ish \ ˈsel-fish \

|Updated on: 21 Jun 2018

Definition of selfish

1 : concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others

2 : arising from concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others

a selfish act

3 : being an actively replicating repetitive sequence of nucleic acid that serves no known function

selfish DNA

; also : being genetic material solely concerned with its own replication

selfish genes

—

selfishly

adverb

—

selfishness

noun

See selfish defined for English-language learners

See selfish defined for kids

Examples of selfish in a Sentence

She's interested only in her own selfish concerns.
I wish he'd spend less time with his friends and more time with me. Am I being selfish?

Recent Examples of selfish from the Web

Others criticized him for being selfish for wanting to shake hands with Kennedy again.

— russell contreras, The Seattle Times, "Busboy who held dying RFK speaks of lingering pain," 2 June 2018
Pocket-Run Pool is different — its genesis was a bit more selfish.

— andrew webster, The Verge, "Pool on your iPhone is better when it’s more like a video game," 24 May 2018
That’s what love is Love is not selfish and self-centered.

— samantha cooney, Time, "Rev. Michael Curry Delivered a Powerful Royal Wedding Sermon. Read the Full Transcript," 19 May 2018
Black women must overcome certain stereotypes, like processing complex emotions in ways that are ultimately channeled into anger, having a lack of ambition, or being fiscally selfish or reckless.

— terrell jermaine starr, The Root, "The Progressive Revolution Is Being Led by a Black Woman," 10 Apr. 2018
Trump’s message, per usual, was for his own selfish political aims.

— frank rich, Daily Intelligencer, "Trump’s Jerusalem Horror Show," 16 May 2018
In these stretches of the film, Everybody Knows could almost tip into Michael Haneke territory, the rot and chaos of contemporary society consuming these witless people who are slaves to their own selfish impulses.

— richard lawson, HWD, "Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem Kick Off Cannes with Gloomy Melodrama," 9 May 2018
That parenting sacrifices should not come at the cost of your life's work, and a woman is not selfish for retaining her individuality — a treatment fathers rarely get in film.

— refinery29.com, "9 Realistic Movie Moms That Don't Glamorize Motherhood," 3 May 2018
The women who didn’t take part in it were made to feel very guilty and selfish and self-centered and uptight, frigid and rigid and rejecting of men.

— win mccormack, The New Republic, "Bhagwan’s Sexism," 12 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'selfish.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.