| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| altruism |
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| SYLLABICATION: | al·tru·ism |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   l tr - z  m |
| NOUN: | 1. Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness. 2. Zoology Instinctive cooperative behavior that is detrimental to the individual but contributes to the survival of the species. | | ETYMOLOGY: | French altruisme, probably from Italian altrui, someone else, from Latin alter, other. See al-1 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | altru·ist —NOUN
altru·istic —ADJECTIVE
altru·isti·cal·ly —ADVERB
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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