navel-gazing

noun

navel-gaz·​ing ˈnā-vəl-ˈgā-ziŋ 

: useless or excessive self-contemplation

Synonyms of navel-gazing

• selfness
• selfishness
• vanity
• narcissism
• ego
• self-absorption
• self-involvement

Examples of navel-gazing in a Sentence

a singer-songwriter whose compositions are too often exercises in self-important navel-gazing

Recent Examples on the Web

Is there anything weirder than this navel-gazing celebration of journalists? — Rob Crilly, The Washington Examiner, 24 Apr. 2026

Cook moved past the navel-gazing of perfectionist designers to get the product out the door, scaling with unprecedented success. — Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2026

Now The human consciousness question is not just philosophical navel-gazing. — Barry Libert, Forbes.com, 17 Mar. 2026

Equal to Tesfaye’s navel-gazing, Shults uses every trick in the music-video playbook to conjure a vivid, ultra-saturated but not quite realistic universe where the Weeknd is a brightly burning sun everyone revolves around. — Todd Gilchrist, Variety, 15 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for navel-gazing

• overgrazing
• paraphrasing
• amazing
• appraising
• rephrasing
• blazing
• brazing
• crazing
• gazing
• glazing
• grazing
• hazing

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