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
No one suffers from main-character syndrome more than the navel-gazing (yet undeniably fabulous) columnist, who has a not-so-subtle habit of constantly redirecting nearly every group conversation back to her own B.S.
—
Marc Snetiker, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Oct. 2025
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
Van Nistelrooy’s first three games brought a defeat, a victory and a draw; his fourth, on December 14, was a visit to Newcastle, who were navel-gazing after a damaging 4-2 defeat at Brentford.
—George Caulkin, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
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
Marc Snetiker, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Oct. 2025
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
Van Nistelrooy’s first three games brought a defeat, a victory and a draw; his fourth, on December 14, was a visit to Newcastle, who were navel-gazing after a damaging 4-2 defeat at Brentford.
—George Caulkin, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2025
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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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.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
24 May 2026
-
The adjectives used to describe vampire Lucy suggest monstrous selfishness.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
5 May 2026
Noun
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Quintrell is also a fan of color drenching—specifically, the trim and vanity.—
Quincy Bulin,
Southern Living,
12 June 2026
-
Bathrooms are large, with soaking tubs, walk-in showers, and double vanities, standard even in entry-level room categories.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
11 June 2026
Noun
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Now layer in a New York fanbase whose narcissism is only matched by the novelty of its first finals since ‘99.—
Dan Shanoff,
New York Times,
3 June 2026
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That escape also reveals the profound depths of his narcissism.—
Tasha Robinson,
Vulture,
29 May 2026
Noun
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Heightening the conflict is the fact that both the host and the guest are world-famous writers, each with a titanic ego.—
Stuart Miller,
Oc Register,
10 June 2026
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In candid photos and videos shared on her Instagram Stories on June 7, Cuoco revealed that Matilda has embraced a Spider-Man alter-ego while showing off her mini-me’s tennis skills.—
Lara Walsh,
InStyle,
8 June 2026
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.—
Stuart Berman,
Pitchfork,
4 June 2026
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This fits the very pattern that Rice has created: a model of self-absorption.—
Sam McDowell,
Kansas City Star,
20 May 2026
Noun
-
Natalie’s anxieties about her sexuality and frustration with her parents’ self-involvement.—
Judy Berman,
Time,
5 June 2026
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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.—
James Wood,
New Yorker,
4 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Navel-gazing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/navel-gazing. Accessed 15 Jun. 2026.
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