ourself
/aʊəˈsɛlf
/pronoun [first person plural]
1Used instead of ‘ourselves’ typically when ‘we’ refers to people in general rather than a definite group of people: [reflexive]: we must choose which aspects of ourself to express to the world [emphatic]: this is our affair—we deal with it ourself...
- We have resigned ourself to the hand that geography and history has dealt our people.
- So, we could really have sold our shrimp boat last year and we built it ourself and it was kind of hard to do so we kept it.
- We go to highschool and struggle through years of trying to be accepted, trying to impress people, wanting to be with the right crowds and do the right things, trying to make a name for ourself.
2 archaic Used instead of ‘myself’ by a sovereign or other person in authority: witnessed ourself at Southampton this thirteenth day of October
Usage
The standard reflexive form corresponding to we and us is ourselves, as in we can only blame ourselves. The singular form ourself, first recorded in the 14th century, is sometimes used in modern English, typically where ‘we’ refers to people in general. This use, though logical, is uncommon and not widely accepted in standard English.
Rhymes
- Church-State
- church steward
- Church's theorem
- Church's thesis
- church stile
- church story
- church stuff
- church supper
- church text
- church town
- church triumphant
- church union
- church vassal
- churchwarden
- churchwardenly
- churchwarden pipe
- churchwardenship
- churchwarden's pipe
- Churchward, George Jackson
- churchwards
- churchway
- church wedding
- church window
- church window bobbin
- church-wise