ourselvespronoun
uk/ˌaʊəˈselvz//ˌɑːˈselvz/us/ˌaʊ.ɚˈselvz//ˌaʊrˈselvz/A2 used when the subject of the verb is "we" or the speaker and one or more others, and the object is the same group of people:
We went to get ourselves something to eat.
John and I promised ourselves a good holiday this year.
formal used to emphasize the subject "we":
We ourselves realize that there are flaws in the plan.
(all) by ourselves
alone or without help from anyone else:
We were all by ourselves in the restaurant.
Nobody wanted to come with us, so we went by ourselves.
We couldn't do all the work by ourselves.
(all) to ourselves
for our use only:
The hotel was very quiet so we had the swimming pool all to ourselves .
More examples
- Against all probability we found ourselves in the same hotel.
- It was so noisy that we couldn't hear ourselves speak.
- We amused ourselves by watching the passers-by.
- Let's not trouble ourselves about the precise details at the moment.
- We must ensure that we do not set ourselves goals that are not attainable.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Linguistics: reflexive forms
- auto
- herself
- himself
- itself
- myself
- oneself
- per se
- reflexive
- self
- themself
- themselves
- thyself
- yourself