self-abnegatory adjective1 •Of or relating to self-abnegation (the denial or invalidation of one's own needs, interests, etc. for the sake of another's).one for whom that purple mantle was too gaudy, and yet who bore it, as he bore everything else, in that self-abnegatory spirit which the higher reaches of philosophy bring — 1892 formsmore self-abnegatory · most self-abnegatory