self-seeking

adjective

Definition of self-seekingnext
1
as in ambitious
having a strong desire for personal advancement a self-seeking schemer who claimed others' ideas and achievements as his own

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in selfish
overly concerned with one's own desires, needs, or interests a self-seeking woman who could be counted on to sidetrack all conversation into a discussion of her problems

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-seeking
  1. ambitious
  2. selfish
  3. aspiring
Adjective
  • Best known for his ambitious documentary features, Kapadia described the process of adapting to the rigors of television production.
    — Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 23 Oct. 2026
  • Tesla’s second-generation Roadster pairs ambitious performance hardware with a cockpit interface designed around driving data.
    — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of ambitious
Adjective
  • Also on Weekend Update, James Austin Johnson portrayed a selfish Kevin O’Leary, the Shark Tank investor who is backing a massive data center campus in northwest Utah.
    — William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2026
  • That’s also how Violet is thinking about their portrayal of Maureen, whose eccentric performance art and selfish behavior often give the character a bad rap.
    — Ellise Shafer, Variety, 8 Oct. 2026
Definition of selfish
Adjective
  • The film touches on the difficulties of being an aspiring female politician today.
    — Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2026
  • At Osschaert, the audience was transported to a forest with leaves scattered on the ground and turf, entering a dream-like set that centered around a young, aspiring designer’s workshop.
    — Stephy Chung, CNN Money, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of aspiring
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.

Browse Nearby Words

self-seekers
self-seeking
self-serving
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Self-seeking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-seeking. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation
Love words? Need even more definitions?

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

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of emissary

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Can' vs. 'May'

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Oct. 23

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All