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# selfish

«selfish» in Mova's school dictionary: **A selfish person thinks mostly about themselves and what…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (selfish; more selfish, most selfish)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A selfish person thinks mostly about themselves and what they want, and does not care enough about other people. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#m1)

2) A selfish act is one done only for your own good, at others' expense. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In ethics, PSHE and stories, selfishness is shown as wrong: the selfish giant who would not share his garden, the child who will not share sweets. Pupils learn that sharing and taking turns are the opposite. Phrases: «selfish behaviour», «a selfish giant», «don't be selfish».

### examples

- It's selfish to eat all the sweets yourself. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#x1)
- The Selfish Giant would not let the children play in his garden. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#x2)
- He was too selfish to share his toys. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#x3)
- Taking the last seat when Grandma was standing was selfish. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#x4)
- Being selfish can lose you friends. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#x5)
- She realised she had been selfish and said sorry. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#x6)
- He was a very selfish Giant. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/#x7)

### note

Comparison: more selfish, most selfish. Noun «selfishness», adverb «selfishly». Opposite: «selfless», «unselfish», «generous». Trap: taking care of yourself (rest, saying no to danger) is not the same as being selfish.

### In the corpora

- [Just a pig—a plain pig!» (Here «pig» means a selfish, thoughtless person.)](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/42-willows-ch5-part2-mole-end/22/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «selfish» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/selfish/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.