as in selfness
excessive interest in oneself
a singer-songwriter whose compositions are too often exercises in self-important navel-gazing
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Recent Examples of navel-gazing
Cook moved past the navel-gazing of perfectionist designers to get the product out the door, scaling with unprecedented success.
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Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
Fortune,
21 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for navel-gazing
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld,
Fortune,
21 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for navel-gazing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for navel-gazing
Noun
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After Portugal’s 1-1 tie against DR Congo, Henry explained the selfishness of Cristiano Ronaldo’s movement, not opening space for a teammate.
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Claire’s elective death therefore remains a problematic choice for some viewers, an act of vainglorious selfishness from a woman who was never terribly nice to begin with.
Noun
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The bathroom is nearby and contains a vanity sink, a walk-in shower, and an incinerating toilet – which literally turns waste into ash.
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The hotel’s wellness focus extends to the bathrooms, which boast walk-in showers, claw-foot soaking tubs, and double-sink marble vanities embellished with ornate gilt mirrors.
Noun
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In conclusion, the distance between narcissism and healthy philautia is extraordinary because of the difference in values and goals of the two concepts.
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Desirée can so often come off a bundle of cliches of actresses of a certain age, all narcissism, hedonism and irresponsibility.
Noun
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Instead of demanding personal fealty or humiliating them to assert personal dominance, Lincoln absorbed their egos and occasional slights, elevating their talents and turning his fiercest political adversaries into his most devoted champions.
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Politics, Lander said, didn’t have to be a selfish endeavor driven by ego.
Noun
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Those sorts of unexpected shifts are what make Vile’s brand of self-absorption so uniquely absorbing after all these years, even as Philadelphia leans into his familiar formula of ’70s-Neil ditch-digging filtered through ’80s-Springsteen production and stretched across ’90s-CD sprawl.
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The depth of her ambition was hard to reach, as was her self-absorption.
Noun
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Natalie’s anxieties about her sexuality and frustration with her parents’ self-involvement.
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By widening the lens, Clark is able to redirect the book’s gaze from the mother toward a quizzical, sometimes critical, but not unaffectionate portrait of two generations of political activism, with the attendant self-involvement and domestic negligence.
Cite this Entry
“Navel-gazing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/navel-gazing. Accessed 6 Jul. 2026.
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