every man for himself
/ˈɛv.(ə.)ɹi mæn fɔː(ɹ)hɪmˈsɛlf/
every man for himself phrase: a command, issued in case of shipwreck, that crew members are relieved of all duties and should try to save themselves.
Phrase
every man for himself
- A command, issued in case of shipwreck, that crew members are relieved of all duties and should try to save themselves.
- Men, you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Abandon your cabin. Now it's every man for himself.1955, Walter Lord, quoting RMS Titanic captain Edward Smith, A Night to Remember, page 86
- Antonyms:
- women and children first
- An expression of indifference, describing or advocating selfishness, lack of comradeship, etc.
Adjective
every-man-for-himself (not comparable)
- Selfish.
- I quit show business because there was too much of an every-man-for-himself attitude going on.
- There was an every-man-for-himself attitude during the time of the Great Depression in 1930s America.
- Synonyms:
- egocentric, self-centered, solipsistic, egoistical, idiocentric, individualistic, interested, porkish, reptilian, selfish
every man for himself meaning in Arabic and Thai
every man for himself in Arabic
- forget about comradeship; save yourselves!
- كُلّ رَجُل لِنَفْسِهِ kull rajul linafsihi
every man for himself in Thai
- forget about comradeship; save yourselves!
- ตัวใครตัวมัน dtuua-krai-dtuua-man
Synonyms of every man for himself
- egocentric
- self-centered
- solipsistic
- egoistical
- idiocentric
- individualistic
- interested
- porkish
- reptilian
- selfish
7 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Questions about every man for himself
- What does every man for himself mean?
- Every man for himself means a command, issued in case of shipwreck, that crew members are relieved of all duties and should try to save themselves.
- What is every man for himself in Arabic?
- Every man for himself in Arabic is كُلّ رَجُل لِنَفْسِهِ (kull rajul linafsihi). See Every man for himself meaning in Arabic.
- What part of speech is every man for himself?
- Every man for himself can be a phrase or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce every man for himself?
- Every man for himself is pronounced /ˈɛv.(ə.)ɹi mæn fɔː(ɹ)hɪmˈsɛlf/ (UK).
Words near every man for himself in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: every man for himself (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-every man for himself.wav.
Cite this entry: “every man for himself.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/every_man_for_himself. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.