every man for himself

idiom

—used to describe a situation in which people do not help each other and each person has to take care of himself or herself

As soon as there was a crisis, it was every man for himself.

Examples of every man for himself in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

That’s the story of O’Neill’s (Irish) family and of my own family (on the Scottish side), both destroyed by premature deaths, each poisoned by the uniquely American disease of every man for himself – a fundamental hostility to helping one another. —

John R. MacArthur, Harper's Magazine, 17 June 2024 Is it not fated to a pitiless future of every man for himself? —

Voice Of The People, New York Daily News, 18 July 2024 But Le Corbeau doesn’t stop there, targeting the whole town with malicious rumors that turn every man for himself. —

Barry Levitt, Vulture, 4 Apr. 2024 But the solution isn’t give everyone a gun and every man for himself. —

John Hudson, Washington Post, 8 Dec. 2023 Baseball is every man for himself, not all hands on deck. —

Nick Canepa, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Sep. 2023

Cite this Entry

Style

“Every man for himself.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/every%20man%20for%20himself. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.

Copy Citation