altruisticadj.

1853 G. H. Lewes Comte's Philos. Sci. I. xxi. 221 The noble termination of the emotional series by the group of social or altruistic instincts.

1873 H. Spencer in Contemp. Rev. Feb. 320 Up to a certain point altruistic action blesses giver and receiver, beyond that point it curses giver and receiver.

1909 Amer. Naturalist 43 360 If this change in the Artemisia root is an adaptation, it is an adaptation for the Orobranche and not for itself, and what adaptationist could expect a plant to be so altruistic as all this?

1915 Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily Star 2 Nov. 10/1 The pitiability of the girl's plight has brought out all that is most altruistic in your nature.

1947 M. Lowry Under Volcano vi. 171 Many of them at first seemed kind to him, but it turned out their motives were not entirely altruistic.

1964 P. A. Sorokin Basic Trends of our Times v. 166 Cooperative, altruistic forces are biologically more important and vital than antagonizing forces.

1989 A. D. Foster Quozl xiv. 174 You're so altruistic, so thoughtful. I may puke.

1992 Cambr. Encycl. Human Evol. (1994) iv. i. 147/2 Sociobiology offers us a great deal more than mere explanations for the evolution of altruistic behaviour.

1994 W. Farrell Myth Male Power (rev. ed.) i. 24 Did men do all this because they were more altruistic, loving, and less power hungry than women? No.