Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
dictionary thesaurus

selfness

noun
self·ness | \ˈself-nəs \

Definition of selfness 

1 : egoism, selfishness

2 : personality, selfhood

Examples of selfness in a Sentence

there's a relentless selfness about her poetry that is wearisome to readers who do not find her endlessly fascinating

First Known Use of selfness

1574, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Keep scrolling for more

Learn More about selfness

Dictionary Entries near selfness

self-mutilation

self-naughting

self-negating

selfness

self-observation

self-obsessed

self-operating

Statistics for selfness

Look-up Popularity

Time Traveler for selfness

The first known use of selfness was in 1574

See more words from the same year

More from Merriam-Webster on selfness

Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for selfness

Comments on selfness

What made you want to look up selfness? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

Show Comments  Hide Comments 

WORD OF THE DAY

acceptation

a generally accepted meaning of a word

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Test Your Vocabulary

Great Scrabble Words—A Quiz

  • scrabble-tiles-that-read-scrabble-quiz
  • Which of the following Q-without-U words means the number five in cards or dice?
Name That Thing

Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!

TAKE THE QUIZ
Dictionary Devil

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Words at Play

Ask the Editors

Word Games