as in egocentric
overly concerned with one's own desires, needs, or interests
a selfish desire to succeed at the expense of others
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of selfish
There’s a purely selfish motivation.
—
Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
In the 1988 film, Scrooge is represented by Frank Cross (Murray), a high-strung, selfish and arrogant TV executive living in Manhattan.
—Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 11 Dec. 2025
Jack is the selfish lone wolf who becomes part of a team in order to defeat Brass Body, a destructive force whose flesh can transform into metal (played by Dave Bautista).
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025
What’s certain is that, in a world that is often selfish and transactional, generosity stands out.
—Jed Brewer, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for selfish
Literary Hub, 12 Dec. 2025
In the 1988 film, Scrooge is represented by Frank Cross (Murray), a high-strung, selfish and arrogant TV executive living in Manhattan.
—Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 11 Dec. 2025
Jack is the selfish lone wolf who becomes part of a team in order to defeat Brass Body, a destructive force whose flesh can transform into metal (played by Dave Bautista).
—Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2025
What’s certain is that, in a world that is often selfish and transactional, generosity stands out.
—Jed Brewer, Rolling Stone, 10 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for selfish
Recent Examples of Synonyms for selfish
Adjective
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As of this week, thanks to the egocentric exertions of the current President and his obedient underlings and friends, the place has been renamed the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.—
David Remnick,
New Yorker,
20 Dec. 2025
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As a chef’s kiss, Manning plays for Texas, a yearslong egocentric underachiever that plenty of college football fans love to hate.—
Blake Toppmeyer,
USA TODAY,
9 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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There is often tension between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but to make this kind of public accusation – that his mother behaved in a narcissistic, controlling and disturbingly sexualised way – is unforgivable.—
The Week UK,
TheWeek,
30 Jan. 2026
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On a far too frequent basis, Americans have listened to the erratic falsehoods of a pathologically narcissistic president while our Republican leaders in Congress cower in the corners of their offices in a state of self-protective paralysis.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
23 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Your son appears to be self-centered and emotionally distanced from you and the family.—
Abigail Van Buren,
Boston Herald,
22 Dec. 2025
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Your son appears to be self-centered and emotionally distanced from you and the family.—
Jeanne Phillips,
Mercury News,
20 Dec. 2025
Adjective
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Two Weeks Notice Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock star as charming and undeniably self-absorbed millionaire George Wade and his overworked, underappreciated, multi-tasking chief counsel, Lucy Kelson.—
Caitlin White,
Variety,
10 Nov. 2025
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Anyone who subscribes to that, as far as I’m concerned, was always self-absorbed and had no interest in the common good anyway.—
Mike Fleming Jr,
Deadline,
29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Some two decades after the debacle of Iraq, the subjective preferences of metropolitan journalism are more widely exposed and, as the implosion of the Washington Post illustrates, the owners of media organs are revealed to be aggressively self-interested.—
Sean Williams,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
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Goods and services are traded for the self-interested betterment of all parties involved.—
The Editorial Board,
Oc Register,
28 Nov. 2025
Adjective
-
Starring Oscar Isaac as a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a monstrous creature (played by Jacob Elordi) to life despite all odds and with dire consequences.—
Meredith G. White,
AZCentral.com,
23 Jan. 2026
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In Lively’s version of events, Baldoni was an egotistical, posturing actor, who tried to present himself as an enlightened male feminist.—
Martha Ross,
Mercury News,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Krakowski was immediately mad for the part of the egomaniacal actress Jenna Maroney.—
Keaton Bell,
Vogue,
2 Jan. 2026
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Still, this latest entry isn’t quite as offensive as previous efforts, partly because director Ruben Fleischer brings slightly more visual punch to the action, and the classically anxious Eisenberg has settled in nicely into his role as the awkwardly egomaniacal Atlas.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
13 Nov. 2025
Adjective
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Such moments—subjective but hardly solipsistic—are few and far between.—
Rosa Lyster,
Harpers Magazine,
30 Dec. 2025
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Helm is nothing if not solipsistic, narcissistic even.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
3 Nov. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Selfish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/selfish. Accessed 31 Jan. 2026.
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