Yourselves

Part of speech: pronoun

Pronunciation: /jəˈsɛlvz/

Definitions

1. A pronoun used to refer to the people being addressed, emphasizing their own individuality
2. The plural form of "yourself," indicating that each member of a group is self-referential
3. Used to highlight actions or states that pertain specifically to the people being spoken to in a collective manner

Etymology: "Yourselves" is a compound of "your" and "-selves," the plural of "self." The "-self" element, once a free-standing noun meaning one's own person, was pressed into service in Middle English to form reflexive and emphatic pronouns, and the plural "-selves" arrived with it. Pairing "your" with "-selves" gives the second-person plural reflexive form, so "you" in the plural has its own reflexive, distinct from the singular "yourself." The word thus works in two ways: it can reflect an action back onto the addressed group, as in "help yourselves," or it can add emphasis, as in "you yourselves said so." Both uses rest on the same construction, a possessive determiner joined to a noun meaning "self."

Synonyms: you all, you guys, youse, your own selves, you

Antonyms: me, myself, ourselves