From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishself-sacrificeˌself-ˈsacrifice noun [uncountable] GIVEwhen you decide not to do or have something you want or need, in order to help someone else several years of hard work and self-sacrifice —self-sacrificing adjective
Examples from the Corpus
self-sacrifice• Suffering, anguish, and self-sacrifice are the order of the day.• To do so took enormous courage and self-sacrifice, intelligence and skill.• But co-operation and self-sacrifice also exist, even at quite basic levels of conscious animal life.• As for self-sacrifice it was mostly incredible.• They didn't work for the Labour Party, which failed to persuade the voters of the value of self-sacrifice.• Heroism turns out to be a fraud, and so does romantic self-sacrifice.• Perhaps sensibly, Mr Bush's campaign appeals more to enlightened self-interest than to self-sacrifice.• She gained her grades through sheer hard work, determination and two years' self-sacrifice. 