What's the difference between selfish and unselfish?

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.

Unselfish


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) He made a great pass and CB hit a big shot.” Bosh praised his team-mate’s unselfishness.
  • (2) She believes her explorations – of their vanities, their blindnesses, their cruelties, of the brief moments in which they attain goodness, or glimpse a kind of realistic, unselfish love – to be of urgent importance.
  • (3) If his long, soaring laser at the basket is destined to be preserved forever so will the act of unselfishness that made it happen.
  • (4) By that stage United could have been three in front, for Martial should have scored when Rooney broke clear and unselfishly squared for his better-placed team-mate, only to see the teenager scuff his attempt at a tap-in and allow John Stones to get in the way.
  • (5) I've always been an unselfish guy, and that's the only way I know how to play on the court and I try to play to the maximum of my ability – not only for myself but for my team-mates.
  • (6) David has taken a brutally unsentimental and unselfish step to ensure the strategy remains in place and an orderly succession is established with the board fully in control of the process."
  • (7) Scientist's norms (principally honesty, objectivity, tolerance, doubt of certitude, and unselfish engagement) are in danger of serious distortion unless broadened to apply to the relations between scientists and nonscientists.
  • (8) America is the apotheosis of selfish capitalism, Denmark of the unselfish variety.
  • (9) Instead, Özil unselfishly squared for Ramsey, who had charged from one end of the pitch to the other, to sweep home emphatically.
  • (10) "It was tremendously important for Albert to know that his mother had not had any choice about giving him up, that she had worried about him and kept in touch as best she could, and unselfishly agreed for him to emigrate so he could have better opportunities," says his nephew, Marcus James.
  • (11) The keys to the Spurs' success have been consistency, unselfish play and a strong emphasis on basketball fundamentals.
  • (12) Agüero could have had his hat-trick six minutes from time but unselfishly set up Silva instead.
  • (13) Silva may have been demonstrably offside from Dzeko's flick but it was still a better passing move than the home side had put together in the previous 45 minutes, with Touré, Dzeko and Silva linking effortlessly for the last to leave Nasri a tap-in with an unselfish square ball.
  • (14) And yet he's unselfish and he plays within the team, and he shares the ball and he's a one and two touch player, very good in possession.
  • (15) Mané was a menace behind Long, and Wanyama shielded his back-four unselfishly after returning from his suspension.
  • (16) David Luiz and Ryan Bertrand were bypassed by Jordan Henderson's slide-rule pass that liberated Bellamy down the right, with the forward's delivery across the six-yard box unselfish and inviting.
  • (17) And the readiness of adults to make such a firm and unselfish commitment for a child they cannot know is, to my mind, an inspirational example of humanity at its best."
  • (18) Finally to those who have so unselfishly given of their services to lighten my task in the past dozen years, I extend my thanks and gratitude.
  • (19) Lennon squared unselfishly for Defoe, and he rolled into the empty net.
  • (20) Porters, cleaners, and the army of voluntary workers who give their time and energy so unselfishly ...

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