Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness.
- n. Zoology Instinctive behavior that is detrimental to the individual but favors the survival or spread of that individual's genes, as by benefiting its relatives.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A term first employed by the French philosopher Comte to denote the benevolent instincts and emotions in general, or action prompted by them: the opposite of egoism.
Wiktionary
- n. Regard for others, both natural and moral; devotion to the interests of others; brotherly kindness; – opposed to egoism or selfishness.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Recent Regard for others, both natural and moral; devotion to the interests of others; brotherly kindness; -- opposed to
egoism orselfishness .
WordNet 3.0
- n. the quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others
Etymologies
- 1853, from French altruisme, coined 1830 by Auguste Comte, from autrui ("of or to others") + -isme, from Old French, from Latin alteri, dative of alter ("other"), from which also English alter. Apparently inspired by French Latin legal phrase l'autrui, from le bien, le droit d'autrui ("the good, the right of the other"). Introduced into English by George Henry Lewes in 1853, in his translation Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences, 1, xxi. (Wiktionary)
- French altruisme, probably from Italian altrui, someone else, from Latin alter, other. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This use of the term altruism makes it a very different thing from the quality or characteristic which in the West is described by this term.”
“And (since your altruism is the primary factor in your decision making) your moral decisions stand or fall on whether you are feeling benevolent at the moment.”
“My "altruism" is the encouragement of ethical behavior.”
“For we transmuted the vernacular word "altruism" to a quite different technical sense — and then solved the technical issue, leaving the human phenomenon (for which the word was invented) quite unresolved.”
“I believe the human drive toward cooperation and altruism is far stronger than our drive to compete or relatiate, and is much more rewarded in our culture.”
“Whether or not this altruism is realistic, especially given the large amount of money that Google pays to Mozilla, I think the important message is that users become aware of what a browser is and learn that there are alternatives to Internet Explorer.”
Lifehacker Readers Ditching Internet Explorer For Google Chrome | Lifehacker Australia
“Ultimately, it also proves the primitively atavistic nature of human beings: that altruism is an unnatural societal construct and that self-interest is the natural impulse of the human animal.”
The Huffington Post: Marshall Fine: Movie Review: Inside Job
“On the issue of whether altruism is essentially selfish, studies have suggested that it is not.”
“It's been proven that altruism is good for the species.”
“If one believes that altruism is bad (Ayn Rand), then one should not take the time to correct a problem.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘altruism’.
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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
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Society
social work, coverage, affiliate, social security, ambulance, clinic, health, insurance, emergency, mail, letter, envelope and 101 more...
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AGRI - sustainable agriculture
abiota, aborigines, absorptive capacity, acceptable daily ..., acclimation, acid precipitation, acquired by weeds..., active solar heating, acute, adaptation, additives, aerosol and 447 more...
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Psycho
To see,feel, touch people as objects with emotion instead as empty shells. These objects may be hollow or shallow or solid. But it has shape which can be shaped further and polished well. With that...
egodystonic, egosyntonic, narcissism, altruism, empathy, efficacy, epigenetic, congruence, prognosis, etiology, iatrogenic, tacit and 1 more...
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taniadee's list
sparkle, lipstick, sonata, onomatopoeia, imp, altruism, amble, innovate, kitsche, slapstick, embellish, dazzle and 4 more...
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solutions
one word (preferably / not a must). terms that solved, help solve or theoretically will solve the world's problems (past, present, future).
these can be general, umbrella terms or...veganism, neurotechnology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, globalism, sustainability, laws, ecology, education, immunization, switchgrass, Esperanto and 72 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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The Golden Rule
TABLE OF PROPOSED RULES TO LIVE BY
The Golden Rule Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
The Silver Rule Do not do unto others what you would not have them do un...ethics, reciprocity, silver rule, karma, tit for tat, newton's third law, virtue, temperance, fortitude, prudence, justice, humanity and 44 more...
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5000 FREE SAT Words
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 229 more...
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words unknown
repeat!!!
laissez faire, propensity, punitive, explicit, whim, extenuating, distort, gross, grossly, hearsay, dispel, apprehensive and 113 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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mager's Words
enigmatic, pragmatic, pulchritudinous, nincompoop, annihilation, sociality, entailment, acrosome, egalitarian, culture, technocracy, shenanigan and 541 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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SAT vocab
abash, abdicate, abate, aberration, abhor, abject, abnegate, abortive, absolve, abstruse, accolade, accost and 175 more...
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newGRE
mostly from magoosh
imbue, verge on, nonchalant, deliberate, timorous, futile, provisional, dissect, checked, tinged, alluring, visionary and 1046 more...
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List Erine
cool mint antiseptic
shalom, cattywampus, bourgeoisie, aerophile, traverse, grotto, epicurean, ex cathedra, nautilus, epitaph, lathe, continuum and 753 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for altruism.
hernesheir US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906: telegraphers' shorthand for "usual terms of agreement". Jan 19, 2013
bilby "I sat and thought. I had lied to the police psychiatrist in saying I was fit for work and lied to Jack Schitt in saying that I wasn't. If Goliath was interested in Hades and the Chuzzlewit manuscript, it could only be for financial gain. The Goliath Corporation was to altruism what Genghis Khan was to soft furnishings."
- Jasper Fforde, 'The Eyre Affair'. Oct 27, 2008