as in selfness
excessive interest in oneself
the novel's major characters all suffer from self-absorption, and they are every bit as insufferable as such people are in real life
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Recent Examples of self-absorption
When Your Greatest Strength Becomes Your Weakness Confidence is essential in leadership, but there's a fine line between self-assurance and self-absorption.
—
Isabelita Castilho, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
His self-absorption, against the backdrop of such enormous loss, was particularly striking.
—Kevin Johnson, USA Today, 20 Apr. 2025
But, sometimes, accomplishment and self-absorption can go together.
—Jed Brewer, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2025
In the view of Georgie’s daughter, Suke Wolton, who teaches politics at Oxford, her late mother found Foster’s self-absorption a little hard to take.
—Ian Parker, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-absorption
Isabelita Castilho, Forbes.com, 17 June 2025
His self-absorption, against the backdrop of such enormous loss, was particularly striking.
—Kevin Johnson, USA Today, 20 Apr. 2025
But, sometimes, accomplishment and self-absorption can go together.
—Jed Brewer, Rolling Stone, 1 Apr. 2025
In the view of Georgie’s daughter, Suke Wolton, who teaches politics at Oxford, her late mother found Foster’s self-absorption a little hard to take.
—Ian Parker, The New Yorker, 20 Jan. 2025
See All Example Sentences for self-absorption
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-absorption
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
Cite this Entry
“Self-absorption.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-absorption. Accessed 7 Oct. 2025.
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