as in generosity
feelings and behavior that show a desire to help other people and a lack of selfishness
charitable acts motivated purely by altruism In one final act of altruism, she donated almost all of her money to the hospital.
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of altruism
To date, most sales efforts have focused on the urgency surrounding global warming, an appeal to investors and buyers’ altruism or the threat of bad PR.
—
Jamil Wyne, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025
Perhaps more than any single post-World War II president, Carter changed the way many saw the U.S. by attempting to inject American values of altruism, democracy and human rights into foreign policy.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
The United States does not uphold its obligations to NATO out of some kind of misguided altruism.
—Alexander Cooley, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
And then there are those who take their altruism a step further by becoming two-time organ donors.
—Stephanie O'Neill, NPR, 26 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for altruism 
Jamil Wyne, Forbes, 14 Jan. 2025
Perhaps more than any single post-World War II president, Carter changed the way many saw the U.S. by attempting to inject American values of altruism, democracy and human rights into foreign policy.
—Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
The United States does not uphold its obligations to NATO out of some kind of misguided altruism.
—Alexander Cooley, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025
And then there are those who take their altruism a step further by becoming two-time organ donors.
—Stephanie O'Neill, NPR, 26 Dec. 2024
See all Example Sentences for altruism
Recent Examples of Synonyms for altruism
Noun
-
Setting aside humanity, humility, charity, generosity, rationality, reality and other distractions, the Los Angeles fires add another element to what was already a fraught relationship between two egocentric political figures.—
Dan Walters,
The Mercury News,
24 Jan. 2025
-
The interfaith outpouring of compassion and generosity is an example of faith in action, those interviewed say.—
Sophie Hills,
The Christian Science Monitor,
23 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
The couple concealed their use of the charity's money by overstating the amounts spent by the charity and overstating the scale of the charity's work and the true disposition of the donations, according to the indictment.—
Ron Wood,
arkansasonline.com,
29 Jan. 2025
-
The White House could attempt to address the sustained decline in the share of Americans making charitable donations by considering policies that have the potential to encourage more people to give to charity.—
Una Osili,
The Conversation,
28 Jan. 2025
Noun
-
Businessman and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that his philanthropy group will make up for U.S. funding to the United Nations climate agency following President Donald Trump's decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement.—
John Yoo and John Shu,
Newsweek,
24 Jan. 2025
-
Battelle and Shlain make a clear distinction between philanthropy and investing, even when a guest speaker is both an academic and an entrepreneur.—
Grace Huckins,
Robb Report,
20 Jan. 2025
Articles Related to altruism
Thesaurus Entries Near altruism
Cite this Entry
“Altruism.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/altruism. Accessed 7 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share