noun ·4 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   One's personal interest or advantage, especially when pursued without regard for others. countable, uncountable

   "I cannot abandon my husband for the sake of self-interest and personal gain."

2. 2
   concern for your own interests and welfare wordnet
3. 3
   taking advantage of opportunities without regard for the consequences for others wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

acquisitivenessautismcareerismegoego tripegocentricity

Example

More examples

"Strive only for self-interest and nothing else."

Etymology

From self- + interest.

Related phrases

broad self-interesteconomic self-interestenlightened self-interestnaked self-interestnarrow self-interest

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