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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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of navel-gazing
Beyond the lifeboat of major film festivals, which still assist a handful of buzzy international and independent films in their treacherous journey to release, such entities as the self-congratulatory, navel-gazing Oscars have seemingly abandoned the inclusion of riskier, daring films.
—
Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 25 Dec. 2024
Ortberg urged staff to focus on beating its French planemaker competitor Airbus instead of navel-gazing at its own issues.
—Byeleanor Pringle, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2024
In the end, this leads to a novel that might be Murakami’s most navel-gazing work, and one that has the unmistakable feel of a coda.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
That deserves far more digital ink to be spilled than the usual navel-gazing about how iPhones are boring.
—Steven Aquino, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for navel-gazing
Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 25 Dec. 2024
Ortberg urged staff to focus on beating its French planemaker competitor Airbus instead of navel-gazing at its own issues.
—Byeleanor Pringle, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2024
In the end, this leads to a novel that might be Murakami’s most navel-gazing work, and one that has the unmistakable feel of a coda.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
That deserves far more digital ink to be spilled than the usual navel-gazing about how iPhones are boring.
—Steven Aquino, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for navel-gazing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for navel-gazing
Noun
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Among their inspiring behaviors, these characters deserve to also express pettiness and selfishness, or, at the very least, more wit.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
19 Sep. 2025
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At a moment in American political culture when selfishness abides — when giving is seen as weakness and costly — Redford’s lesson feels timelier than ever.—
Steven Zeitchik,
HollywoodReporter,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Happy Valentine’s Day card The vanity in the dressing room of the pop-up is the Easter egg mother lode, according to the Spotify reps, who encouraged us to look closely on it for clues.—
Stephanie McNeal,
Glamour,
30 Sep. 2025
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This means cleaning your toilet, vanity countertops, and scrubbing the shower door and tiles.—
Sarah Lyon,
Southern Living,
28 Sep. 2025
Noun
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His narcissism, which tells him there will be no world after he is gone, does the same.—
Christopher Bonanos,
Curbed,
25 Sep. 2025
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The compliments resulted in a temporary spike in feelings of uniqueness and specialness, demonstrating how praise can inflate ego in the short term – even outside clinical narcissism.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Powers is really a one-time star quarterback Russ Holliday who bowed out of the game in disgrace following an incident where his oversized ego over-engaged with a fan.—
Baz Bamigboye,
Deadline,
30 Sep. 2025
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Well, there are 8 billion people in the world and some of them have very strong egos and some are very rich.—
Rob Stein,
NPR,
30 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Maybe the symptoms of his cognitive decline are inextricable from what seemed to you to be his general self-absorption and thoughtlessness.—
James Parker,
The Atlantic,
2 Sep. 2025
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Frost’s well is a modern version of Narcissus’ pool, and his poem is a meditation on self-absorption and its limits.—
A.O. Scott,
New York Times,
27 Aug. 2025
Noun
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In terms that viewers of the original series might understand, Esmeralda falls somewhere between the tyranny of Michael Scott, the absurdity of Dwight Schrute, and the self-involvement of Kelly Kapoor with a particular charisma that only Impacciatore could pull off.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
4 Sep. 2025
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She’s played by an A-list celebrity — Cate Blanchett — operating in a city renowned for its self-involvement and privilege.—
Lorraine Ali,
Los Angeles Times,
28 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Navel-gazing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/navel-gazing. Accessed 5 Oct. 2025.
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