selfishness

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“First of all, I’ve served this party for a long time. I don’t do it out of selfishness, by any means,” she said at a Saturday gathering where she provided breakfast burritos to delegates.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 21, 2026

Cerf “wasn’t afraid to tell her that he considered her philosophy of rational selfishness ‘abhorrent,’” Ms. Feldman writes, “but at the same time, he promised that if RH published her, ‘nobody’ would be a censor.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 30, 2026

"Economic selfishness is on the rise globally and we mustn't sit and cry about our difficulties, we must rise above and not allow others to hold us in their clutches."

From BBC • Aug. 26, 2025

I’m asking you to be distracted from that so I can consolidate my power without you complaining—so that you think I’m doing it in service to you when, actually, I’m doing it in selfishness.

From Slate • Jul. 28, 2025

I told her because I wanted her to believe me and understand, and because I thought I owed it to her, and to myself, and to you, or was it just more selfishness?

From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer