How do you define ourselves?

Answer 1

The word 'ourselves' means 'us' or 'those like us'.

It is frequently used - like 'myself' - reflexively, as in, 'I cut myself shaving; in fact, we all cut ourselves shaving: these cheap razors are no good.'

It is sometimes used for emphasis, as an intensifier; for example, we might say, 'We were sure there would be a problem' or, to indicate 'we', specifically as a group and possibly as opposed to another group, we might instead say, 'We ourselves were sure...'

Or it could be used to isolate a smaller groupfrom a group: 'Everyone decided to go to the beach; we ourselves decided to go, too.'; 'They all wanted to share, but we wanted to keep it for ourselves'; 'If they won't do it, we'll get it done ourselves', or, 'We ourselves will get the job done'

The word can also describe a personal condition as applied to a group including us: 'I haven't been feeling myself lately, because of the 'flu; in fact we ourselves have all been ill with it.' In the same way, we might say, 'He, himself, had this virus,' or 'She, herself, was diagnosed with this virus.'

It is sometimes used instead of 'we' or 'us', as in: 'They, as well as ourselves, had seen the movie.' Like 'myself' instead of 'me' or 'I' ('Jess and myself saw the movie,') the word is frequently unnecessary in this instance, and is non-standard.

Many consider the use of 'ourselves' and 'myself' except reflexively or for emphasis to have a clumsy or timorous feel, similar to hypercorrection*. It would be just as clear, and sound less contrived, to say, 'They had seen the movie too,'; 'Jess and I saw the movie.'

*Hypercorrection means to use words incorrectly in an effort to get it 'right'. So, someone might say, 'Kim had lunch with Jess and I,' when they should have said, 'Kim had lunch with Jess and me,'. When in doubt, in that sort of case, rephrasing might work better: 'Kim, Jess and I had lunch,'