SELF-IMPORTANT Synonyms: 114 Similar and Opposite Words

self-important

adjective

ˌself-im-ˈpȯr-tᵊnt

Definition of self-important

as in arrogant

having too high an opinion of oneself a self-important businessman who believed his schedule mattered more than anyone else's

Synonyms & Similar Words

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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-important Self-righteous and self-important, priggish and nagging. — Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 6 May 2026 Only this time the interns are boring Gen Z stereotypes (obsessed with TikTok, too sensitive, too emotional, too self-important). — Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 25 Feb. 2026 Laugh-In’s producer always thought this won Nixon the election (producers can get a little self-important). — Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 18 Feb. 2026 This isn’t just one self-important critic’s opinion — Berry herself has talked about it. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 13 Feb. 2026 See All Example Sentences for self-important

Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-important

Adjective

Everybody on our side understands that impeachment is a critical tool in the toolbox for constitutional self-defense against a president acting like a king, an imperious, lawless, arrogant king.

— NBC news, NBC news, 6 Sep. 2026
Most obviously, front and center, and in endlessly intrusive close-up, there’s Pattinson — who also serves as producer — playing the arrogant, fame-addicted, megalomaniac Hansen.

— Jessica Kiang, Variety, 5 Sep. 2026

Definition of arrogant

Adjective

Similarly, Zo — seen recently as the monster hunter in Na Hong-jin’s delirious sci-fi action epic, Hope — stays for most of the running time just the right side of smug entitlement.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Sep. 2026
Historian Sandgruber describes how Alois Hitler wrote his 1895 letters in a deeply smug, anti-clerical manner that overestimated his abilities.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 June 2026

Definition of smug

Adjective

White’s Jimmy Hurdstrom is a good-hearted yet rough-around-the-edges ranch hand who evolved from a troubled criminal into a resilient, proud cowboy.

— Denise Petski, Deadline, 16 Sep. 2026
The reason that's so significant is multifaceted, but his main transgression and the thing that ultimately lost him his job was the recent skid of the once-proud FSU football team.

— Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 15 Sep. 2026

Definition of proud

Adjective

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
Melodramatic and vainglorious, moody and capricious, a fidgety, neurotic hypochondriac, Stalin was a bundle of appalling contradictions.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 25 Feb. 2026

Definition of vainglorious

Adjective

Meanwhile, Johnson reprises his role as Moana's bantering reluctant partner, the shapeshifting trickster demigod Maui, alongside Jemaine Clement again voicing the conceited giant crustacean Tamatoa.

— Brian Truitt, USA Today, 9 July 2026
Avoid Burying Praise in Negatives To avoid making children too conceited, parents might bury praise in the midst of negatives.

— Wayne Parker, Parents, 8 Mar. 2026

Definition of conceited

Adjective

Through remarkable archival footage and an incredible range of interviews, Monsters of God digs into the egotistical and ruthless mentalities that supported competing criminal empires and the undercover operations that dismantled them.

— Rory Doherty, Time, 6 Aug. 2026
Where some may see this behavior as vain or egotistical, others may perceive it as bold, self-assured and passionate.

— Mallorie Sullivan, USA Today, 20 July 2026

Definition of egotistic

Adjective

But the most terrifying characters are the broken, vain, selfish parents who in one way or another cause their children so much harm.

— Deputy Managing Editor, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
The actor will play the vain Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Gilderoy Lockhart.

— James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 24 Aug. 2026