conceit
Other forms: conceits
If you’re always boasting and can’t stop talking about yourself, you have that character flaw known as conceit. Your friends — if you have any — may also complain about your arrogance, vanity, and egotism.
A conceit can also be an artistic device — probably a little forced — like the plot of a movie built on the conceit of everything that happens being foretold in song. You might find an architectural conceit in a Baroque palace, where you think you’re looking down a long hallway lined with columns, but when you get closer you see that it's really a mural painted in perspective so that the columns only seem to disappear in the distance.
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the trait of being unduly vain and conceited; false pride
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synonyms:
conceitedness, vanity
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Antonyms:
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humbleness, humility
a disposition to be humble; a lack of false pride
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types:
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narcism, narcissism, self-love
an exceptional interest in and admiration for yourself
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boastfulness, vainglory
outspoken conceit
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egotism, self-importance, swelled head
an exaggerated opinion of your own importance
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posturing
adopting a vain conceited posture
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superiority complex
an exaggerated estimate of your own value and importance
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type of:
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trait
a distinguishing feature of your personal nature
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humbleness, humility
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feelings of excessive pride
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synonyms:
amour propre, self-love, vanity
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type of:
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pride, pridefulness
a feeling of self-respect and personal worth
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pride, pridefulness
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a fanciful idea or notion
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an artistic device or effect“the architect's brilliant conceit was to build the house around the tree”
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type of:
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device
something in an artistic work designed to achieve a particular effect
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device
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an elaborate poetic image or a far-fetched comparison of very dissimilar things
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type of:
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figure, figure of speech, image, trope
language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
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figure, figure of speech, image, trope
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a witty or ingenious turn of phrase“he could always come up with some inspired off-the-wall conceit”
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type of:
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turn of expression, turn of phrase
a distinctive spoken or written expression
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turn of expression, turn of phrase
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Vocabulary lists containing conceit
In this play, Oscar Wilde explores the relationship between a husband and wife who each have reason to suspect the other of being unfaithful.
In this three-part poem, Pope outlines the failings and responsibilities of literary critics. Read the full text here.
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