How to Use selfishness in a Sentence

selfishness

noun
  • Are his words out of greed and selfishness or to better lives?
    — Laura Tillman, Hartford Courant, 16 June 2025
  • The reason for this, of course, is that politicians are far from alone in their selfishness.
    — Erika D. Smith Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 18 Nov. 2020
  • The snowstorms have revealed a selfishness that has floored me.
    — Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 5 Mar. 2026
  • And now, his selfishness might cost their family that clan.
    — Maggie Fremont, Vulture, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Some people tend to confuse the idea of putting themselves first with the essence of selfishness.
    — Karina Michel Feld, Rolling Stone, 3 Nov. 2022
  • Selfless in that special way that somehow veers right back around to selfishness.
    — K. Austin Collins, Rolling Stone, 19 Nov. 2021
  • My downfall was rooted in my selfishness.
    — Tracy Wright , Lauryn Overhultz, FOXNews.com, 3 Oct. 2025
  • My downfall was rooted in my selfishness.
    — Lauren Del Valle, CNN Money, 2 Oct. 2025
  • Fichte did not mean to justify solipsism or mere selfishness.
    — Adam Kirsch, The New Republic, 21 Oct. 2022
  • And a lot of them have the same thing, which is just like, there is a sort of narcissism a little bit, selfishness.
    — H. Alan Scott, Newsweek, 5 Mar. 2025
  • As a world of hurt and selfishness swirls around them, the two find unexpected refuge in each other.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 9 May 2024
  • There is zero selfishness to his game, no holding back to prevent injury.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 17 Oct. 2025
  • Sometimes, a little bit of selfishness is best and this song celebrates it.
    — Dan Woike, Los Angeles Times, 26 Mar. 2023
  • The hedonism and selfishness on view are an odd post-Covid subject.
    — Armond White, National Review, 26 Oct. 2022
  • The selfishness of that decision will, of course, come with some viewer debate.
    — Joshua St. Clair, Men's Health, 12 Mar. 2023
  • The story wants to be about Batman's journey out of selfishness.
    — Darren Franich, EW.com, 10 Mar. 2022
  • Writing a memoir is an act of both selfishness and selflessness.
    — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 16 Dec. 2023
  • Want, greed, selfishness, hatred, malice, war, disease, and death can at times seem to overwhelm the good.
    — Lisa Rennie Sytsma, Christian Science Monitor, 28 Nov. 2025
  • The through line in these missteps, as Smith sees it, is selfishness, which is an unattractive trait in any workplace.
    — Morgan Smith, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2024
  • Greed and selfishness were considered virtues.
    — Dread Scott, Artforum, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Their hubris is just as scary, their predilection for selfishness and lying is just as scary as the stuff in the cult of Lumon.
    — Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 26 Apr. 2022
  • His attitude and selfishness during that time led me to strongly resent him.
    — Jeanne Phillips, Mercury News, 13 May 2025
  • That’s not the way of the world — that’s selfishness and capitalism in its greediest form.
    — Anna Tingley, Variety, 27 Oct. 2023
  • Whereas the people of the country paid dearly for their moment of selfishness.
    — Hannah Gold, Harper's Magazine, 19 Feb. 2025
  • Self-care is a broad term, and sometimes people confuse self-care with self-indulgence, or an act of selfishness.
    — Annie O’Sullivan, Good Housekeeping, 28 Apr. 2022
  • As always, there is no shortage of those bemoaning the selfishness of others.
    — Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News, 30 Nov. 2021
  • But that would just be a less destructive version of Bezos’s selfishness.
    — Franklin Foer, The Atlantic, 29 Oct. 2024
  • Jesus became the ultimate sacrifice for our selfishness which is at the core of sin.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 16 Apr. 2022
  • This is in line with the phenomena of self-care and self-preservation as opposed to selfishness.
    — David Oliver, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2023
  • Sometimes, like Jimmy, parents fail, and choose our own selfishness over our children.
    — Elisabeth Sherman, Parents, 27 Feb. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'selfishness.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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