as in smug
having too high an opinion of oneself
a self-important businessman who believed his schedule mattered more than anyone else's
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Recent Examples of self-important
Unsurprisingly, the small army of senior executives with make-work jobs and self-important titles, who add little to nothing to build Hearst’s brands, apparently made it through today relatively unscathed.
—
Caitlin Huston, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Nov. 2024
Finally, someone is standing up and holding the fat, middle-aged White reporter accountable, and there’s nobody in the world that dislikes it less to be held accountable than the fat, middle-aged, White, self-important columnist at a newspaper.
—Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 28 Aug. 2024
The self-important Brackman often was the butt of his colleagues’ jokes.
—Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Nov. 2024
Balmy does prove to be slightly sinister and fully absurd, in the way of self-important cult leaders everywhere, and Le Moulin even more so.
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for self-important
Caitlin Huston, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Nov. 2024
Finally, someone is standing up and holding the fat, middle-aged White reporter accountable, and there’s nobody in the world that dislikes it less to be held accountable than the fat, middle-aged, White, self-important columnist at a newspaper.
—Ryan Gaydos, Fox News, 28 Aug. 2024
The self-important Brackman often was the butt of his colleagues’ jokes.
—Mike Barnes, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Nov. 2024
Balmy does prove to be slightly sinister and fully absurd, in the way of self-important cult leaders everywhere, and Le Moulin even more so.
—Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker, 7 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for self-important
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-important
Adjective
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To his critics, Jost’s smug humor felt noticeably anachronistic at a time when the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements were calling for a greater awareness of society’s deep inequalities, and for ostensibly liberal institutions to do better.—
Michael Tedder,
The Atlantic,
17 May 2025
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The series has been characterized by smug antics in defeat.—
Bennett Durando,
Denver Post,
16 May 2025
Adjective
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For example, when a man in his sixties talks about the same thing, he’s seen as calm and logical, but when a woman in her twenties talks about it, she’s seen as arrogant or trying to act mature.—
Billboard Japan,
Billboard,
15 May 2025
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By losing some of its arrogant charm, Doom has also lost the means to back it up.—
Christopher Cruz,
Rolling Stone,
15 May 2025
Adjective
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And for any fan of the show — and Wilson’s over-the-top, egotistical Dwight — the lyrics might not be a total surprise.—
Victoria Edel,
People.com,
15 Apr. 2025
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In the 1998 episode, Theroux, 53, appears briefly as an egotistical writer who flirts with Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw at a party.—
John Russell,
People.com,
26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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In the next round that year, Boston lost Game 6 at home to the Heat before knocking out Jimmy Butler and his proud team by capturing Game 7 in Miami.—
Jay King,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
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Jaylon is a proud alumnus of the University of Georgia.—
Jaylon Thompson,
Kansas City Star,
15 May 2025
Adjective
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Instead he might have been remembered as another god or angel among many, who came down for a while to heal some bodies, heal some souls, who tried in vain to teach us how to get back to the radix of our lives, then left again.—
Lamorna Ash,
The Dial,
6 May 2025
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Fearing that Williams might go to the New Orleans Saints at No. 9, the 49ers tried in vain to trade up to No. 8 with the Carolina Panthers.—
Cam Inman,
Mercury News,
5 May 2025
Adjective
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Ivy-as-Marilyn is an inconsiderate, amphetamine guzzling faux-intellectual whose devotion to the acting craft is presented as a vainglorious affectation.—
Greg Evans,
Deadline,
10 Apr. 2025
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The name is meant to evoke Theodore Roosevelt’s vainglorious 1898 cavalry charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War.—
Robert F. Worth,
The Atlantic,
8 Apr. 2025
Adjective
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This is the worst kind of football team: a conceited but objectively mediocre squad.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
The Mercury News,
17 Nov. 2024
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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
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Jain didn’t barge onto the scene with the pompous bravado as many others do.—
Alexander Puutio,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2025
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The entire episode elicits the kind of pompous stench that has long prompted ill feelings toward Michigan — a sentiment magnified by the actions and attitudes that led to the investigation at hand.—
Mitch Sherman,
New York Times,
14 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Self-important.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-important. Accessed 23 May. 2025.
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