Himself Meaning
/hɪmˈsɛlf/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
pronHim; the male object of a verb or preposition that also appears as the subject
pronHe; used as an intensifier, often to emphasize that the referent is the exclusive participant in the predicate
Sentence Examples
Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
The man in the corner addressed himself to the husband.
Suddenly he found himself awake and fully alert.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He taught ____ to play the piano without any teacher.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He decided to fix the broken fence by ____ instead of calling a professional repairman.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English hymself, from Old English him selfum. Equivalent to him + -self.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. He was dressed out in broad gaiters and bright tweeds, like an English tourist, and his face might have belonged to Dagon, idol of the Philistines."
— 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter II, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
"One Terrorgram user livestreamed himself stabbing five people outside of a mosque in Turkey, she said, and a 19-year-old Slovakian man praised the group in a manifesto before killing two people at an LGBTQ bar in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia."
— 2024 September 9, Hannah Rabinowitz, “Alleged leaders of White supremacist group charged in effort to encourage terrorism and hate crimes”, in CNN:
"Therefore the Lord himſelfe ſhal giue you a ſigne:[…]."
— 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 7:14, column 2:
"The [Isaac] Newton that emerges from the [unpublished] manuscripts is far from the popular image of a rational practitioner of cold and pure reason. The architect of modern science was himself not very modern. He was obsessed with alchemy."
— 2014 June 21, “Magician’s brain”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8892:
"Yet it is that himselfe had been liberally gratified by his Unkle with militarie rewards, before ever he went to warres."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 7, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He taught ____ to play the piano without any teacher.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He decided to fix the broken fence by ____ instead of calling a professional repairman.