English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of their mortality.
Examples of hubris in a Sentence
When conceived it was a project of almost unimaginable boldness and foolhardiness, requiring great bravura, risking great hubris.—Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman, 1998If you were born Somewhere, hubris would come easy. But if you are Nowhere's child, hubris is an import, pride a thing you decide to acquire.—Sarah Vowell, GQ, May 1998… our belief in democracy regardless of local conditions amounts to cultural hubris.—Robert D. Kaplan, Atlantic, December 1997
His failure was brought on by his hubris.
Recent Examples on the WebThe half-hour tracks Abed and the group's rise to power, the eventual schism with Jeff (who hates not being in control), and the hubris that leads to their downfall, while also telling a touching story about Abed's desire to fit in.—Chancellor Agard, EW.com, 6 Mar. 2024 This hubris – and unwillingness to admit the CEO hadn’t conceived of the idea itself – appears to be at the root of Vodacom's failed legal strategy to defend Makate’s challenge.—Toby Shapshak, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 The most important thing is that no one dies because of hubris or ignorance of the risks.—Rick N. Tumlinson, Scientific American, 15 Jan. 2024 The Golden State’s high-speed-rail hubris has been a big, black, cash sinkhole since the Obama administration.—Kayla Bartsch, National Review, 29 Dec. 2023 But Paras had denied the accusation in a response to Krebs, and the three hackers, armed with the incredible hubris of youth, blew off the article as circumstantial evidence.—Andy Greenberg, WIRED, 14 Nov. 2023 But India has now shown hubris in thinking that what worked in places like Pakistan would also work in a place like the United States, said some of the observers, most of whom asked not to be identified because of the atmosphere of fear and retaliation in India today.—Hari Kumar, New York Times, 30 Nov. 2023 There was hubris, and contempt for Arabs in general, and this led people to misread the signs.—Stuart Miller, Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2023 The Character All Of It Billionaire Quek Leng Chan’s Hong Leong, TPG To Buy Ramsay Sime Darby Healthcare For $1.2 Billion
Psychologically, men tend to have more hubris, encouraging them to start a business.—Kumar Mehta, Forbes, 13 Nov. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'hubris.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Greek hýbris "arrogance, abuse, violence, outrage," of uncertain origin
Note:
A. Nikolaev ("Die Etymologie von altgriechischem ὕβρις," Glotta, 80. [2004], pp. 211-30) connects hýbris with Greek hḗbē "youth, vigor of youth, sexual maturity" (see hebephrenia) taken as descending from Indo-European *(H)i̯ēgwh2-eh2; after a series of assumptions a derivative *Hi̯o/a(h2)gw-ri- becomes *hogwri-, which by Cowgill's Law (*o > *u between a resonant and a labial consonant) results in hýbris. On the semantic side Nikolaev has to assume that hýbris originally meant something like "physical strength," with no negative connotation; this he attempts to demonstrate in passages from Homeric epic and Hesiod. Nikolaev's etymology is roundly rejected by R. Beekes (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009). Older etymologies proposing that hy- represents a prefix approximately equivalent to epi- "on, upon" are now generally in disfavor.
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