What's the difference between magnanimous and selfish?

Magnanimous


Definition:

  • (a.) Great of mind; elevated in soul or in sentiment; raised above what is low, mean, or ungenerous; of lofty and courageous spirit; as, a magnanimous character; a magnanimous conqueror.
  • (a.) Dictated by or exhibiting nobleness of soul; honorable; noble; not selfish.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) One is the stubborn mystery of how a giant of its liberation movements, an intellectual who showed forgiveness and magnanimity years before Mandela emerged from jail, could turn into the living caricature of despotism.
  • (2) "He makes the superb point that the London Olympics would be a perfect opportunity for Britain to magnanimously put an end to what Greeks and the majority of people in the EU, including the UK, see as a historical wrongdoing."
  • (3) The city claims to be the richest and most exciting on Earth, in which case it can show magnanimity.
  • (4) I understand that the football world will say that Barcelona is stronger, that they are the favourites, this does not offend me," he added, magnanimously accepting that the palpably superior side are indeed palpably superior to his team.
  • (5) Amid the celebrations, held in front of a strange mix of celebrities that included Andy Murray, Danny Cipriani, Dynamo the magician and Katie Price, Haye was magnanimous enough to praise Chisora's durability and what he described as "one of the best chins" he has faced.
  • (6) Hopefully we’ve done that tonight.” John Herdman, Canada’s English coach proved magnanimous in defeat.
  • (7) Many in this country of 50 million people view Mandela, who led the African National Congress to power, as a father figure and an icon of integrity and magnanimity amid the nation's increasingly messy politics.
  • (8) But the public and the press should know that these disclosures aren’t some act of government magnanimity – their hand was forced by organizations like EFF, ACLU, and Epic that have been trying to pry this information loose for years.” Stepanovich, now a lawyer with the digital and human rights group Access, gave a similar assessment.
  • (9) The victors have the responsibility to act magnanimously.
  • (10) Both worked for Disney, so naturally were rooting for Newsies and Peter and the Starcatcher but magnanimously conceded that "we did go see Once today and it's a great show".
  • (11) The man of peace shows no magnanimity in his great victory .
  • (12) On the day of victory, Michael Foot was magnanimous enough to congratulate her after she had borne a huge burden of responsibility pretty much alone.
  • (13) It’s for all the men who don’t know which of their kind and magnanimous actions could be interpreted as sexist, creepy or inappropriate: Telling a junior female staff member that she has “piercing eyes” is a sexist act.
  • (14) The hearing was attended by five members of his victim's family, who, with majestic magnanimity, were there to petition for his death sentence to be commuted.
  • (15) The ministers preparing to defy Cameron and George Osborne and campaign for Brexit are certainly not banking on magnanimity on 24 June.
  • (16) Mr Pope was the first American to be sentenced for espionage in Russia for 40 years, though Mr Putin promptly displayed magnanimity and pardoned him.
  • (17) "Now China can be magnanimous and say it is acting in solidarity with its brothers and sisters in Africa [who will benefit from the money], and that it is not going to stand in the way of a deal," he said.
  • (18) He may yet feel magnanimous again, but right now it's sensitive.
  • (19) When I gently indicated my awareness of this person's altered state, the result was a magnanimous offer to share.
  • (20) He doesn’t need too much space to have shots.” Laurent Blanc, the magnanimous PSG manager, credited the home side for getting through the tie.

Selfish


Definition:

  • (a.) Caring supremely or unduly for one's self; regarding one's own comfort, advantage, etc., in disregard, or at the expense, of those of others.
  • (a.) Believing or teaching that the chief motives of human action are derived from love of self.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) A series of hierarchical multiple regressions revealed the effects of Surgency, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Intellect on evoking upset in spouses through condescension (e.g., treating spouse as stupid or inferior), possessiveness (demanding too much time and attention), abuse (slapping spouse), unfaithfulness (having sex with others), inconsiderateness (leaving toilet seat up), moodiness (crying a lot), alcohol abuse (drinking too much alcohol), emotional constriction (hiding emotions to act tough), and self-centeredness (acting selfishly).
  • (2) They have been selfish, thinking of what they can achieve with gas.
  • (3) For a while yesterday, Hazel Blears's selfishly-timed resignation with her rude "rock the boat" brooch send shudders of revulsion through some in the party.
  • (4) A second level of concerted evolution occurs within the functional L1 sequences in a pattern that did not meet our expectations for selfish DNA.
  • (5) Not only did it make every grocery-store run a guilt trip; it made me feel selfish for caring more about birds in the present than about people in the future.
  • (6) Back in 1999 Chris Sidoti, then-head of the Australian Human Rights Commission, called the baby boomers “the most selfish generation in history”.
  • (7) It said Clinton's "cheap shots" had a hidden agenda to discredit China's engagement with Africa and "drive a wedge between China and Africa for the US selfish gain."
  • (8) We propose that REP sequences may be a prokaryotic equivalent of 'selfish DNA' and that gene conversion may play a role in the evolution and maintenance of REP sequences.
  • (9) Although angry when talking about the regime, his campaign grew from selfish motives.
  • (10) After The Arbor's success, said Barnard, the women who would become The Selfish Giant's executive producers, Lizzie Francke at the BFI and Katherine Butler from Film4, "were fantastic about saying, 'What do you want to do next?
  • (11) None of them is British, though there is great anticipation about The Selfish Giant, Clio Barnard's second feature, which premieres in the Directors' Fortnight .
  • (12) Further, it is selfish to suggest that Americans should feel some sort of responsibility for their fellow citizens.
  • (13) In an ideal world, such findings might be interpreted as smart women making smart choices, but instead it seems that this research is just adding fuel to the argument that women who don't have children, regardless of the reason, are not just selfish losers but dumb ones as well.
  • (14) Denial is absurdly selfish (and yet the best selfishness is yet to come).
  • (15) Jeremy Clarkson faced further censure on Saturday after describing people who killed themselves by jumping under trains as "selfish".
  • (16) A world filled with broken promises, selfishness and separations.
  • (17) In fact, Wilson's arguments are more fundamental and persuasive than Snow's; works on evolution, like Sociobiology and Dawkins's The Selfish Gene, have been absorbed into western cultural life as neatly as any neo-Darwinist could have predicted.
  • (18) Sometimes the athletes are so selfish they won't give up their own stuff to help others."
  • (19) Her newspaper profiles over the years are peppered with self-deprecating references to her sporting ruthlessness: her constant mentions of her selfishness and egotism; her win-at-all-costs, only-gold-medals-matter mentality; or the time she flung her helmet at her boyfriend in frustration after losing a race.
  • (20) This has been encouraged by the press' standard strike narrative: these selfish bastards are striking, this is bad, and it will affect you in this awful unacceptable way of maybe making you slightly late for work.