What does "self" mean?
One individual's personality, character, demeanor, or disposition.
Self
/sɛlf/ adj, name, noun, pron, verb
adj, name, noun, pron, verb ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: One individual's personality, character, demeanor, or disposition.
- Grammar: self is listed as adj, name, noun, pron, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: ego, alter, alter ego, alterum.
- Useful contrasts: hidden self, impulsiveness, lack of self-control.
- Usage evidence: Try as you might, but you cannot force a belief onto someone else, much less your own self.
How to use "self"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "self" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "self" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "self" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "self" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "self" is acting as adj, name, noun, pron, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "ego" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "self", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 One individual's personality, character, demeanor, or disposition.
"She remained her usual cheerful self despite recent setbacks"
- 2 your consciousness of your own identity wordnet
- 3 The subject of one's own experience of phenomena: perception, emotions, thoughts.
"Portia: To these injunctions every one doth swear That comes to hazard for my worthless self."
- 4 a person considered as a unique individual wordnet
- 5 An individual person as the object of the person's own reflective consciousness (plural selves).
"The self, the I, is recognized in every act of intelligence as the subject to which that act belongs. It is I that perceive, I that imagine, I that remember, I that attend, I that compare, I that feel, I that will, I that am conscious."
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 Self-interest or personal advantage.
- 7 A seedling produced by self-pollination (plural selfs).
- 8 A flower having its colour uniform as opposed to variegated.
- 9 Any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example, infective, allogenic, or xenogenic).
"Similarity profiles between helper T cell epitopes (of self or microbial antigens and allergens) and human or microbial SWISSPROT collections were produced. For each antigen, both collections yielded largely overlapping profiles, demonstrating that self-nonself discrimination does not rely on qualitative features that distinguish human from microbial peptides. [...] Epitopes (on self and nonself antigens) can cross-stimulate T cells at increasing potency as their similarity with nonself augments."
Verb
- 1 To fertilize by the same individual; to self-fertilize or self-pollinate.
- 2 To fertilize by the same strain; to inbreed.
Adjective
- 1 Having its own or a single nature or character throughout, as in colour, composition, etc., without addition or change; of the same kind; unmixed.
"a self bow: one made from a single piece of wood"
- 2 Same, identical. obsolete
"I owe you much, and, like a wilful youth / That which I owe is lost; but if you please / To shoot another arrow that self way / Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, / As I will watch the aim, or to find both, / Or bring your latter hazard back again, / And thankfully rest debtor for the first."
- 3 Belonging to oneself; own. obsolete
- 4 Of or relating to any molecule, cell, or tissue of an organism's own (belonging to the self), as opposed to a foreign (nonself) molecule, cell, or tissue (for example, infective, allogenic, or xenogenic).
"Similarity profiles between helper T cell epitopes (of self or microbial antigens and allergens) and human or microbial SWISSPROT collections were produced. For each antigen, both collections yielded largely overlapping profiles, demonstrating that self-nonself discrimination does not rely on qualitative features that distinguish human from microbial peptides. However, epitopes whose probability of mimicry with self or nonself prevails are, respectively, tolerated or immunodominant and coexist within the same (auto-)antigen regardless of its self/nonself nature. Epitopes (on self and nonself antigens) can cross-stimulate T cells at increasing potency as their similarity with nonself augments."
Adjective
- 1 (used as a combining form) relating to — of or by or to or from or for — the self wordnet
Pronoun
- 1 Himself, herself, itself, themself, themselves; that specific (person mentioned). obsolete, rare
"This argument was put forward by the defendant self."
- 2 Myself, oneself. humorous
"I made out a cheque, payable to self, which cheered me up somewhat."
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
"Kansas has self-imposed a four-game suspension for head coach Bill Self and assistant Kurtis Townsend to begin this season along with several other sanctions, the school announced Wednesday."
- 2 A freed slave surname originating as an occupation.
- 3 An unincorporated community in Boone County, Arkansas, United States.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Try as you might, but you cannot force a belief onto someone else, much less your own self."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "self"?
Common synonyms include: ego, alter, alter ego, alterum, anima, anima humana.
How do you use "self" in a sentence?
Try as you might, but you cannot force a belief onto someone else, much less your own self.
How do you pronounce "self"?
Pronounced /sɛlf/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English self, silf, sulf, from Old English self, seolf, sylf, from Proto-Germanic *selbaz. Cognates include Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌱𐌰 (silba), German selbst and Dutch zelf.
Etymology 2
* From self. A surname taken up by freed slaves, who have become of themselves, they being self-owned.