ourselves
1 ENTRIES FOUND:
Britannica Dictionary definition of OURSELVES
1
:
those same ones that we are:
a
— used as the object of a verb or preposition to refer to a group that includes you after that group has already been mentioned
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We consider ourselves lucky.
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We can see ourselves being parents someday.
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We kept the money for ourselves.
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We made fools (out) of ourselves. [=we made ourselves look foolish]
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We have the house to ourselves this weekend. [=we are the only ones staying in the house this weekend]
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We want to see it for ourselves. [=we wanted to see it rather than have someone tell us about it, describe it to us, etc.]
b
— used for emphasis to refer again to a group that includes you after that group has already been mentioned
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We ourselves do not agree.
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We did it ourselves.
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We told them ourselves that we would help.
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We were young once ourselves. [=we are old now but were once young]
2
:
our normal or healthy selves
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We are tired and just not ourselves.
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We were sick, but we are back to ourselves today.
by ourselves
1
:
without any help from other people
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We did it (all) by ourselves.
2
:
with nobody else except us
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We went to the movies by ourselves.
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We both live by ourselves. [=alone]
