What does "herself" mean?

Her; the female object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject.

What is a synonym for "herself"?

Common synonyms include: alter ego, better self, ego, he, her, him.

//hɜːˈsɛlf// pron

pron ·Moderate ·College level

Pronoun

1
Her; the female object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject. feminine, personal, pronoun, reflexive, singular, third-person
"She injured herself."
2
Honorific alternative letter-case form of herself, sometimes used when referring to God or another important figure who is understood from context. alt-of, honorific
"It is certain that Juan Diego was a virtuous man, who tried to direct his life along the road of righteousness, of honesty, of virtue, and to make all that pleased God bloom, who was chosen by the Mother of God Herself to be Her [i.e. the mother's] messenger."
3
She; an intensifier of the female subject or object, often used to indicate the directness or exclusiveness of that person . emphatic, feminine, personal, pronoun, singular, third-person
"She was injured herself."
4
The subject or non-reflexive object of a predicate; she (used of upper-class ladies, or sarcastically, of women who imagine themselves to be more important than others) Ireland, feminine, personal, pronoun, singular, third-person
"What's herself up to this time?"

"Though she wished to travel abroad by herself, she thought better of it."

From Middle English. Equivalent to her + -self.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.