Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of self-interest There is no situation where a constituent should have the slightest concern that their lawmaker is acting in their personal self-interest rather than the interest of their constituents. Orlando Sentinel, The Orlando Sentinel, 3 June 2025 The overwhelming amount of IRA spending for factories and everything is going into red districts, so there’s just the basic economic self-interest of Republicans in those districts. Alan Ohnsman, Forbes.com, 2 June 2025 But Kim makes decisions based not on mutual trust but on cold calculations of self-interest. Victor Cha, Foreign Affairs, 29 May 2025 Yet critics argue that hegemonic systems often mask the self-interest of the dominant state, using consent to obscure coercion. Andrew Latham, The Conversation, 30 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for self-interest
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-interest
Noun
  • Years after graduation, the harsh reality of the New York art scene sets in, and Willow’s selfishness becomes more and more apparent.
    Lizz Schumer, People.com, 24 June 2025
  • Are his words out of greed and selfishness or to better lives?
    Laura Tillman, Hartford Courant, 16 June 2025
Noun
  • The main bedroom included a four-poster mahogany bed, a fireplace, a love seat, and a small table, while the bathroom offered dual vanities, ample closet space, and a deep soaking tub.
    Carole Dixon, Travel + Leisure, 18 June 2025
  • Fire vanity projects and double down on core values.
    Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
Noun
  • When egos are set aside, silos are broken, and people move as one — kids are found, hope is restored, and the system starts to change.
    Chloe Mayer, MSNBC Newsweek, 23 June 2025
  • The recent taco taunting has been a blow to his fragile ego that couldn’t go unanswered.
    Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 23 June 2025
Noun
  • In advance of the ceremony, the finalists were asked an essential question: Orwell claimed that prose writers have four ‘great motivations’ (putting aside the need to earn a living): sheer egoism; aesthetic enthusiasm; historical impulse; and political purpose.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 June 2025
  • Trump’s slogans—America First and Make America Great Again—embody the essence of populism, namely using ideology to advance a political program that is morally unconstrained and driven by collective egoism.
    BÁLINT MADLOVICS, Foreign Affairs, 10 Feb. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Self-interest.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-interest. Accessed 1 Jul. 2025.

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