self-abnegatory

comparative more self-abnegatory · superlative most self-abnegatory

1. Of or relating to self-abnegation (the denial or invalidation of one's own needs, interests, etc. for the sake of another's).

   In his present self-abnegatory mood, he will not acknowledge himself able to feel anything honest and noble.

   1978, Aidan Chambers, Breaktime, London: Red Fox, published 1995, page 66

   2 more examples

   one for whom that purple mantle was too gaudy, and yet who bore it, as he bore everything else, in that self-abnegatory spirit which the higher reaches of philosophy bring

   1892, Edgar Saltus, chapter 8, in Imperial Purple, Chicago: Morrill, Higgins, page 193

   Women are so terrifically self-abnegatory; they must give, give, give, to some one all the time. Women, that is, of the mothering type, such as these.

   1921, Rose Macaulay, chapter 4, in Dangerous Ages, London: W. Collins Sons, page 76

   Synonyms: self-sacrificing, abstemious, otherish, selfless, self-denying, self-flagellatory, self-sacrificing, unselfish