self-flattering

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of self-flattering Not waste time on glib and self-flattering diversions. Mark Z. Barabak, The Mercury News, 18 Mar. 2025 Convert a self-flattering remark into a mixture of both humility-based and complaint-based. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 5 Dec. 2024 The notion that history is a story of progress is another self-flattering illusion. Helena Rosenblatt, Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-flattering
Adjective
  • Cena gets to show off his mane of hair while playing Peacemaker, the egotistical vigilante that made his debut in 2021's Suicide Squad and now leads the acclaimed HBO Max series also starring Danielle Brooks, Freddie Stroma, and Jennifer Holland.
    Mekishana Pierre, EW.com, 6 Aug. 2025
  • Such an obvious way to exhibit his egotistical personality.
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 22 June 2025
Adjective
  • Cruel, narcissistic, duplicitous—the list is long and by now so familiar that even some of Trump’s supporters concede that his most poisonous attributes are, to use the D.C. lingo, baked into the cake.
    David Remnick, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2025
  • Under all the self-referential jokes and sight gags, 2017's LEGO spinoff understands who Bruce Wayne is: a troubled, slightly narcissistic man-child who'd rather put on a cape than confront past traumas.
    Devan Coggan, EW.com, 3 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • The community organizer turned president turned socialite has never been great at hiding his egocentric ways.
    Grace Curley, Boston Herald, 21 July 2025
  • Bang is perfect for this kind of role, playing an imposing figure who can be both aloof and egocentric, and whose grand stature diminishes as the film progresses.
    Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2025
Adjective
  • This is the worst kind of football team: a conceited but objectively mediocre squad.
    Dieter Kurtenbach, The Mercury News, 17 Nov. 2024
  • Rory Kinnear steals some of the best lines as the conceited British prime minister, and Ato Essandoh, as Kate’s deputy chief, plays the ever-flustered man surrounded by extremely capable women with admirable humor, charm, and confidence.
    Ben Travers, IndieWire, 30 Oct. 2024
Adjective
  • Bertha was right, George is being a jerk, and Larry needs to wipe that smug smile off his face.
    Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 11 Aug. 2025
  • And no scripture condones the smug enjoyment of it.
    Hannah Sacks, People.com, 30 July 2025
Adjective
  • What Companies Like About Their Cloud Service While executives put vendor reputation further down the list of priorities when shopping for cloud services, that doesn’t mean sellers should be complacent.
    Forbes Research, Forbes.com, 5 Aug. 2025
  • Neither a complacent, neutered Congress nor a Supreme Court controlled by lifelong GOP partisan operatives appear willing or able to stop it.
    David Faris, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 July 2025
Adjective
  • The real real thing tended to be rather different: clumsy, ad hoc, vainglorious—and secret.
    Dan Piepenbring, Harpers Magazine, 16 July 2025
  • Here, too, in the Airfix models and the vainglorious LP collection is the solitary self-curation of the only child—the kid who can’t dash from his bedroom to a sibling’s, model or record in hand.
    James Wood, New Yorker, 14 July 2025
Adjective
  • According to the study, the uninhibited pumping of groundwater by farmers, cities and corporations around the world now accounts for 68% of the total loss of fresh water at the latitudes where most people live.
    ProPublica, ProPublica, 28 July 2025
  • The freedom to compete, to be uninhibited in pursuit of victory.
    Marcus Thompson II, New York Times, 29 July 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Self-flattering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-flattering. Accessed 19 Aug. 2025.

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