as in selfness
excessive interest in oneself
a singer-songwriter whose compositions are too often exercises in self-important navel-gazing
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of navel-gazing
Beyond the lifeboat of major film festivals, which still assist a handful of buzzy international and independent films in their treacherous journey to release, such entities as the self-congratulatory, navel-gazing Oscars have seemingly abandoned the inclusion of riskier, daring films.
—
Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 25 Dec. 2024
Ortberg urged staff to focus on beating its French planemaker competitor Airbus instead of navel-gazing at its own issues.
—Byeleanor Pringle, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2024
In the end, this leads to a novel that might be Murakami’s most navel-gazing work, and one that has the unmistakable feel of a coda.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
That deserves far more digital ink to be spilled than the usual navel-gazing about how iPhones are boring.
—Steven Aquino, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for navel-gazing
Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 25 Dec. 2024
Ortberg urged staff to focus on beating its French planemaker competitor Airbus instead of navel-gazing at its own issues.
—Byeleanor Pringle, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2024
In the end, this leads to a novel that might be Murakami’s most navel-gazing work, and one that has the unmistakable feel of a coda.
—Bailey Trela, Vulture, 19 Nov. 2024
That deserves far more digital ink to be spilled than the usual navel-gazing about how iPhones are boring.
—Steven Aquino, Forbes, 3 Oct. 2024
See All Example Sentences for navel-gazing
Recent Examples of Synonyms for navel-gazing
Noun
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Hirschhorn’s Josh manages to be endearing even when the character’s messiness and selfishness overwhelm him.—
Chad Jones,
Mercury News,
12 Sep. 2025
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Approach LinkedIn DMs with service instead of selfishness, so sales become a natural byproduct of connection.—
Jodie Cook,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
The promo references the famous —or, sometimes, infamous — farewells that contestants leave, penned in lipstick, on the vanity mirrors where queens do their makeup.—
Mathew Rodriguez,
Them.,
17 Sep. 2025
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Place a container near your vanity to hold earrings, rings, hairpins, and coins.—
Claire Hoppe Norgaard,
Better Homes & Gardens,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The compliments resulted in a temporary spike in feelings of uniqueness and specialness, demonstrating how praise can inflate ego in the short term – even outside clinical narcissism.—
New Atlas,
New Atlas,
19 Sep. 2025
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Positive feedback enhanced their feelings of uniqueness (a key aspect of grandiose narcissism).—
ArsTechnica,
ArsTechnica,
18 Sep. 2025
Noun
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However, underneath that public bravado there is some truth in the fact that Britain has also characterized the visit that way, with the specific intention of appealing to Trump's ego in the hope of securing a better trade deal.—
Jack Royston,
MSNBC Newsweek,
17 Sep. 2025
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This question opens up powerful lessons on letting go of control, ego, needing to be right or doing it all alone.—
Expert Panel®,
Forbes.com,
17 Sep. 2025
Noun
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Maybe the symptoms of his cognitive decline are inextricable from what seemed to you to be his general self-absorption and thoughtlessness.—
James Parker,
The Atlantic,
2 Sep. 2025
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Frost’s well is a modern version of Narcissus’ pool, and his poem is a meditation on self-absorption and its limits.—
A.O. Scott,
New York Times,
27 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
In terms that viewers of the original series might understand, Esmeralda falls somewhere between the tyranny of Michael Scott, the absurdity of Dwight Schrute, and the self-involvement of Kelly Kapoor with a particular charisma that only Impacciatore could pull off.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
4 Sep. 2025
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She’s played by an A-list celebrity — Cate Blanchett — operating in a city renowned for its self-involvement and privilege.—
Lorraine Ali,
Los Angeles Times,
28 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Navel-gazing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/navel-gazing. Accessed 21 Sep. 2025.
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