every man for himself

every man for himself

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈɛv.(ə.)ɹi mæn fɔː(ɹ) hɪm.ˈsɛlf/

Phrase

every man for himself

1. An expression of indifference, that everyone should forget about comradeship and save themselves.
   • 1955, Walter Lord, quoting RMS Titanic Captain Edward Smith, A Night to Remember, page 86:

     Men, you have done your full duty. You can do no more. Abandon your cabin. Now it's every man for himself.

Translations

forget about comradeship; save yourselves!

Arabic: كُلّ رَجُل لِنَفْسِهِ‎ (kull rajul linafsihi) Catalan: campi qui pugui (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 人各為己／人各为己 (rén gè wèi jǐ), 各人自掃門前雪／各人自扫门前雪 (gèrén zì sǎo ménqiánxuě) Czech: každý sám za sebe Dutch: ieder voor zich Finnish: pelastukoon ken voi French: chacun pour soi (fr); sauve qui peut (fr) German: jeder ist sich selbst der Nächste Italian: ognun per sé, il primo prossimo è sé medesimo Latin: proximus egomet mihi Maori: tautauāmoa Polish: każdy sobie rzepkę skropie (literally "every one scrapes for a turnip for himself") Portuguese: salve-se quem puder, cada um sabe de si Russian: ка́ждый са́м за́ себя́ (káždyj sám zá sebjá) Spanish: sálvese quien pueda (es), cada palo que aguante su vela Swedish: var och en för sig, rädda sig den som kan Thai: ตัวใครตัวมัน (th) (dtuua-krai-dtuua-man)

See also

• every woman for herself
• look out for number one

Adjective

every-man-for-himself (not comparable)

1. 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.