selfishnessn.
/ˈsɛlfᵻʃnᵻs/, U.S. /ˈsɛlfɪʃnᵻs/ The quality or condition of being selfish; excessive regard for one's own advantage or welfare to the exclusion of consideration for others; selfish nature or behaviour. Also: an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [noun] > selfishness
selfness1574
self-regard1595
selfishness1628
selffulness1640
suicism1654
selliea1758
1628 W. Struther Christian Observ. & Resol. 131 (heading) Damnable selvishnesse.
1648 T. Hill Olive Branch 27 As long as ever you are full of Envy..or full of Selfishness, it argues you want love.
1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Sensus Communis: Ess. Freedom of Wit 75 The Opposite of Sociableness is Selfishness.
1756 Enq. Present Syst. 19 Which, the French or the English, have succeeded best in their respective Selfishnesses?
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 333 A tax by which luxury, avarice, and selfishness were screened, and the load thrown upon productive capital. View more context for this quotation
1838 G. P. R. James Life & Times Louis XIV I. vi. 406 Passion, vanity, interest, and all the other species of selfishness.
1890 G. Gissing Emancipated I. vii. 246 It was pretty clear to her that selfishness, idleness, and vanity were at the root of Mrs. Denyer's character.
1916 S. Leacock Ess. & Lit. Stud. ii. 51 The creed and cult of self-development..arrogates to itself the title of New Thought, but contains in reality nothing but the Old Selfishness.
1958 Spectator 1 Aug. 174/3 The continuous concentration on national selfishnesses..is distasteful.
2013 J. B. White Gospel as Conversat. xxi. 151 We are fallible and broken human beings, whose every action and feeling is touched with selfishness.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1628