Entry Word: conceit

Function: noun

Meaning: 1 an elaborate or fanciful way of expressing something <the conceit that the crowd at the outdoor rock concert was a vast sea of people waving to the beat of the music>

Synonyms metaphor

Related Words analogy, circumlocution, euphemism, simile

Phrases figure of speech

2 a conception or image created by the imagination and having no objective reality <his dream of swimming in the Olympics is nothing more than a conceit> — see fantasy 1
3 an often unjustified feeling of being pleased with oneself or with oneʼs situation or achievements <even though her novels are enormously popular, the writer is more prone to insecurity than to conceit> — see complacence