- 1為自己打算的、自私的（常形容說法或舉動，貶義）
Self-serving describes an action, reason, or story that you offer only because it will gain you an advantage. The word shows . People often put it in front of argument, excuse, claim, or politician: a self-serving explanation is one that just happens to make you look right or keep you safe. It is close to self-seeking. Though actually, self-seeking more often paints the whole person (“that is what they are like”), while self-serving more often points at this one move — this sentence, this rule, this “sorry.” Almost anything a person says for themselves can be called self-serving by an angry listener, so the word is sharp, and sometimes unfair.
self-serving 用來形容一個說法、理由或舉動，只是為了替自己爭取好處，所以帶有批評的意味。這個字最常放在名詞前面，格式是「a self-serving ＿＿」，後面接解釋、藉口、說法這類名詞。例如「a self-serving explanation is one that just happens to make you look right or keep you safe」，意思是這樣的解釋剛好讓你看起來是對的，或讓你平安無事。
它和近義的 self-seeking 不同，範圍也不一樣。self-seeking 描寫的是整個人，像是在說「他就是這種人」；self-serving 則指向某一次的舉動，例如某一句話、某一條規定，或某一句「對不起」。
不過，生氣的聽者幾乎可以把任何人替自己說的話都說成 self-serving，所以這個字很尖銳，有時候也不公平。
From the word’s history
self- + serving.
由 self- 加 serving 組成。
組成From self- + serving: serving yourself, not other people.
同家族的字
- serveto work for someone or something — here, you are working for yourself
原始詞典資料1 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
self-servingadj
- 1
Showing interest only in oneself (pursuing self-interest to the exclusion of other goals).
- "Most of the time when people consider the question of what rules society should have for using software, the people considering it are from software companies, and they consider the question from a self-serving perspective," says Stallman, opening his speech.
- Don’t assume that the connotations of authority, history, scholarship, hallowed tradition and judiciousness in the word “Academy” actually fit this self-serving club.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。