every man for himself

Idioms  

1. Each individual puts his or her own interests foremost. For example, In this company no one helps anyone—it's every man for himself. In Chaucer's day this dictum was stated approvingly, meaning “if you don't look out for yourself, no one else will,” but today such selfishness is usually censured. Despite the wording, the term applies to either sex.

---

Example Sentences

“There’s a sense of every man for himself ahead of the U.S. inflation data this evening, a data point that has left markets in limbo and seems to be taking an interminably long time to arrive,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a report.

From Seattle Times

As we matured, we assumed more responsibility, and that’s how my mother’s Every Man For Himself Friday dinners were born.

From Washington Post

It's "dog eat dog" or "every man for himself" except when it's "United we stand" in the "War on Terror," or "Support our troops," or "One Nation under God" or, in the face of a pandemic, "We're all in this together."

From Salon

A separate report in the New York Times surfaced stories of doses being thrown out because of poor planning or how prioritization in some hospitals embodied an "every man for himself" attitude.

From Salon

Still, they illustrate a growing distrust and “every man for himself” attitude, another Mount Sinai doctor said.

From New York Times