put one's own oxygen mask on first
put one's own oxygen mask on first verb: to practice self-care and focus on one's own needs to avoid burnout when caring for others.
Verb
put one's own oxygen mask on first (third-person singular simple present puts one's own oxygen mask on first, present participle putting one's own oxygen mask on first, simple past and past participle put one's own oxygen mask on first)
- To practice self-care and focus on one's own needs to avoid burnout when caring for others.
- “When I first said, ‘OK, how do I give back?’ my integrated therapy doctor told me to put my own oxygen mask on first, so to speak.”2016 August 11, Amy Laskowski, quoting Caroline Moore-Kochlacs, “Wearing 100 Hats over 100 Days”, in BU Today, archived from the original on 27 Mar 2025
- F.A.D. genuinely wants to save the world and all the talented but anxious girls in her life. But she has to put her own oxygen mask on first.2019 November 14, Emmalea Russo, “Feeling Real in the Age of Un-Realness: On Fiona Alison Duncan’s “Exquisite Mariposa””, in LA Review of Books, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2020
Forms of put one's own oxygen mask on first
| third-person singular present | puts one's own oxygen mask on first |
|---|---|
| present participle | putting one's own oxygen mask on first |
| past participle | put one's own oxygen mask on first |
| past | put one's own oxygen mask on first |
| alternative form | put one's oxygen mask on first |
| alternative form | put on one's oxygen mask first |
| alternative form | put on one's own oxygen mask first |
Origin of put one's own oxygen mask on first
From the standard pre-flight safety demonstration instruction "Put on your own oxygen mask before helping children/others". In an aircraft depressurisation, attempting to help a child before ensuring one's own oxygen supply can endanger both the parent and, by extension, the child.
Questions about put one's own oxygen mask on first
- What does put one's own oxygen mask on first mean?
- Put one's own oxygen mask on first means to practice self-care and focus on one's own needs to avoid burnout when caring for others.
- What part of speech is put one's own oxygen mask on first?
- Put one's own oxygen mask on first is a verb.
- What is the past tense of put one's own oxygen mask on first?
- The past tense of put one's own oxygen mask on first is put one's own oxygen mask on first.
Words near put one's own oxygen mask on first in the dictionary
- put one's money where one's mouth is
- put one's money where one's mouth was
- put one's name in the hat
- put one's neck out
- put one's oar in
- put one's own oxygen mask on first
- put one's oxygen mask on first
- put one's pants on one leg at a time
- put one's pride in one's pocket
- put one's shoulder into
- put one's shoulder to the wheel
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: put one's own oxygen mask on first (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.
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Cite this entry: “put one's own oxygen mask on first.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/put_one%27s_own_oxygen_mask_on_first. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.