ourselves

[ ahr-selvz, ouuhr-, ou-er- ]

plural pronoun

1. a reflexive form of we (used as the direct or indirect object of a verb or the direct object of a preposition):

   We are deceiving ourselves. Give us a moment to ourselves.

2. (used as an intensive with we ):

   We ourselves would never say such a thing.

3. Informal. (used in place of we or us, especially in compound subjects, objects, and complements):

   The children and ourselves thank you kindly. When it satisfies ourselves, it will be ready to market. The ones who really want the new system are the manager and ourselves.

4. (used in place of we or us after as, than, or but ):

   How many parents are as fortunate as ourselves? No one loves skiing more than ourselves. Nobody heard it but ourselves.

5. our customary, normal, or healthy selves:

   After a good rest, we're almost ourselves again.

ourselves

/ aʊəˈsɛlvz /

pronoun

1. 1. the reflexive form of we or us
   2. (intensifier)

      we ourselves will finish it

2. preceded by a copula our usual selves

   we are ourselves when we're together

3. not_standard.
   used instead of we or us in compound noun phrases

   other people and ourselves

Usage Note

See myself.

Word History and Origins

Origin of ourselves¹

1300–50; Middle English oure selven; our, self, -en ⁴, -s ³

Example Sentences

“What we do to the Earth we do to ourselves, and what we do to life on Earth, human or otherwise, we do to ourselves.”

From Los Angeles Times

Audiard explains, “There were two levels of reality. There’s Jessi in her bedroom, and then, very suddenly, we go elsewhere. The name that we had for this sequence among ourselves was Dark Ideas, i.e., Jessi’s Dark Ideas. You have this girl talking, and suddenly she goes into her subconscious, and her subconscious is wild and furious.”

From Los Angeles Times

“Every day, we’re reminding ourselves that we’ve got a responsibility to a huge audience, globally,” Hickey said.

From Los Angeles Times

“Because everything comes from something, whether it be a bad experience or a trauma or something that has led you to want to go down the wrong path. It’s nice that we as audience members get to have that conversation with ourselves when watching characters like these as a reminder that you are one decision away from doing a bad thing.”

From Los Angeles Times

"It was a collective buy-in to back ourselves and people might think we are crazy, but that shows the culture that has been created."

From BBC