as in selfness
excessive interest in oneself
the smug self-preoccupation of a generation that had grown up experiencing nothing but affluence
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Recent Examples of self-preoccupation
The feeling of awe provides perspective and reduces self-preoccupation.
—
Tracy Brower, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2026
Playwright Yasmina Reza’s middle-class cast of four brew, and gleefully quaff, an amoral spew of modern age self-preoccupation.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 2 Feb. 2026
Tracy Brower, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2026
Playwright Yasmina Reza’s middle-class cast of four brew, and gleefully quaff, an amoral spew of modern age self-preoccupation.
—Christopher Smith, Oc Register, 2 Feb. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-preoccupation
Noun
-
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
-
All to justify his vanity project.—
Josh Meyer,
USA Today,
31 May 2026
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The director describes him less as a young actor searching for a performance than as someone instinctively in tune with the character’s vanity, insecurity and swagger.—
Seth Abramovitch,
HollywoodReporter,
28 May 2026
Noun
-
By catering to his ego, international leaders can persuade Washington to forget—or at least to ignore—past tensions.—
Sudarsan Raghavan,
New Yorker,
3 June 2026
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Out of this evolutionary necessity, new ways of leading are emerging based on the consciousness of a connected self, that both embraces the ego and puts it in service of a bigger picture, a higher calling.—
Ginny Whitelaw,
Forbes.com,
1 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Self-preoccupation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-preoccupation. Accessed 6 Jun. 2026.
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