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self-sacrificing

self-sacrificing

5 5.5
Ready to give up your own needs to help others
  • adjective
  • /ˌsɛlfˈsækrɪfaɪsɪŋ/
translation icon : altruista
  • The nurse was self-sacrificing, often staying late to care for her patients when they needed her most.
  • self-sacrificing love
  • self-sacrificing mother
  • self-sacrificing individual

I mean, people do very heroic things that are, you know, self sacrificing and things of that nature.

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Examples

  • It is self sacrificing and benevolent in spirit.

  • Yet people can also be remarkably self-sacrificing, sometimes even with apparently unselfish motives.

    Blog text (15)
  • Quite so and we men are so self-sacrificing we never use it, do we, father?

  • And time and time again he just chose to to do this self sacrificing thing and continue to work.

  • I mean, people do very heroic things that are, you know, self sacrificing and things of that nature.

  • Now, you have been loyal and you have been loving... ...and you have been self-sacrificing.

  • Such a self-sacrificing, noble gentleman... handsome, too, from what I hear.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Courageous, self-sacrificing people... ...setting examples for all of us.

  • Not all such caretaking is as self-sacrificing as it may appear.

    Academic text (2009)
  • While Anna projected forcefulness, Camilla was obedient and self-sacrificing.

    Academic text (1994)

Synonyms

selfless
vsself-sacrificing
72 3.2

Caring more about other people's needs than your own

is willing to give up personal needs rather than just being concerned
altruistic
vsself-sacrificing
23 6.7

Wanting to help other people even when it costs you

focuses on active willingness to give up one's own needs for others
unselfish
vsself-sacrificing
19 2.0

Willing to put other people's needs before your own

is willing to give up personal interests even when it requires real sacrifice
self-giving
vsself-sacrificing
1 7.3

Ready to put other people's needs before your own and help them

is willing to give up interests but may not emphasize generous personal sacrifice
self-denying
vsself-sacrificing
1 7.0

Ready to put other people's needs before your own

focuses on giving up specifically for other people rather than causes
self-abnegating
vsself-sacrificing
9.9

To put other people's needs before your own

describes a willing choice to give up needs for others

Antonyms

458 1.0

Caring only about yourself and not about other people

self-serving
  • Offensive
49 6.4

Putting your own needs first without caring about others

How Self-Sacrificing

selfless
72 3.2
self-sacrificing
5 5.5
altruistic
23 6.7
generous
79 1.2
selfish
458 1.0

Surface Forms

self-sacrificing positive

Morphology

self-sacrificing = self-sacrifice (transparent) = self + sacrifice + ing

The adjective is formed directly from the noun 'self-sacrifice' with the participial suffix '-ing', and the meaning follows compositionally from its parts.

Etymology

Self-sacrificing is made of self ('your own') and sacrifice ('to give up something important, often as an offering'). The word sacrifice came from people offering things to the 'sacred', so self-sacrificing means choosing to give up your own needs for others.