n., pl., selves (sĕlvz).
- The total, essential, or particular being of a person; the individual: "An actor's instrument is the self" (Joan Juliet Buck).
- The essential qualities distinguishing one person from another; individuality: "He would walk a little first along the southern walls, shed his European self, fully enter this world" (Howard Kaplan).
- One's consciousness of one's own being or identity; the ego: "For some of us, the self's natural doubts are given in mesmerizing amplification by way of critics' negative assessments of our writing" (Joyce Carol Oates).
- One's own interests, welfare, or advantage: thinking of self alone.
- Immunology. That which the immune system identifies as belonging to the body: tissues no longer recognized as self.
Myself, yourself, himself, or herself: a living wage for self and family.
adj.
- Of the same character throughout.
- Of the same material as the article with which it is used: a dress with a self belt.
- Obsolete. Same or identical.
[Middle English, selfsame, from Old English.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
