egoist

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person who is chiefly concerned with their own interests and gives little regard to others

   The novel's egoist treats every friendship as a way to advance his own ambitions.

2. 2
   noun

   an advocate of egoism as an ethical or philosophical theory

   As an ethical egoist, she argued that rational self-interest should guide every choice.

Borrowed from French egoiste, ultimately formed from Latin ego ("I") + the agent suffix -ist. In ordinary use an egoist is self-centered; in philosophy the noun can neutrally identify someone who accepts egoism.

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