as in egotistical
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Recent Examples of self-aggrandizing
Arnett’s narration is conversational but authoritative, proud but not self-aggrandizing.
—
Sarah Larson, New Yorker, 12 May 2025
While Musk’s often self-aggrandizing moves can be polarizing, Trump’s promotion of him as his proxy balances it out.
—Barnini Chakraborty, The Washington Examiner, 28 Mar. 2025
Admittedly, to anyone not in Chalamet’s camp at this moment, that speech might have seemed self-aggrandizing, a kind of boy-king entitlement.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 25 Feb. 2025
Heavy handed, self-aggrandizing hype and a near certain success in doing what any other major American politician would have been afraid to do.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 9 Feb. 2025
When senators read from their self-aggrandizing scripts, the resemblance to play actors is incontrovertible.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 20 Jan. 2025
Corbet recalled shooting the scene where Van Buren leads a group of party guests outside to a hillside overlook that would become the location for his institute and delivers a long speech that is somehow both self-pitying and self-aggrandizing.
—Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 19 Dec. 2024
Classifying what Piece by Piece will be exactly, especially in the often self-aggrandizing realm of the musical biopic, is a challenge.
—Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2024
The rise of Huawei is painstakingly rendered in a small library of self-aggrandizing literature that the company publishes, including several volumes of quotes from its founder.
—Steven Levy, WIRED, 16 Nov. 2020
Sarah Larson, New Yorker, 12 May 2025
While Musk’s often self-aggrandizing moves can be polarizing, Trump’s promotion of him as his proxy balances it out.
—Barnini Chakraborty, The Washington Examiner, 28 Mar. 2025
Admittedly, to anyone not in Chalamet’s camp at this moment, that speech might have seemed self-aggrandizing, a kind of boy-king entitlement.
—Stephanie Zacharek, TIME, 25 Feb. 2025
Heavy handed, self-aggrandizing hype and a near certain success in doing what any other major American politician would have been afraid to do.
—Ted Johnson, Deadline, 9 Feb. 2025
When senators read from their self-aggrandizing scripts, the resemblance to play actors is incontrovertible.
—Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 20 Jan. 2025
Corbet recalled shooting the scene where Van Buren leads a group of party guests outside to a hillside overlook that would become the location for his institute and delivers a long speech that is somehow both self-pitying and self-aggrandizing.
—Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times, 19 Dec. 2024
Classifying what Piece by Piece will be exactly, especially in the often self-aggrandizing realm of the musical biopic, is a challenge.
—Daniel Dockery, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2024
The rise of Huawei is painstakingly rendered in a small library of self-aggrandizing literature that the company publishes, including several volumes of quotes from its founder.
—Steven Levy, WIRED, 16 Nov. 2020
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-aggrandizing
Adjective
-
The men were very egotistical in this film and no one really showed up.—
Jeff Conway,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
-
In the upcoming film, Oscar Isaac stars as Dr. Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in a monstrous experiment that ultimately leads to the undoing of both the creator and his tragic creation.—
Matt Grobar,
Deadline,
31 May 2025
Adjective
-
There is something dangerously, provocatively arrogant about his glorified gang leader looks.—
Timothy Crouse,
Rolling Stone,
9 June 2025
-
The exiled poet was criticized for his arrogant attempts to influence British and American foreign policy.—
Graham Robb,
The Atlantic,
9 June 2025
Adjective
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Not to the founders — three vainglorious men who had been born with the world in their hands and their futures glittering like gold coins waiting to be spent — but to the people of Hartford.—
Kimberlee Speakman,
People.com,
5 June 2025
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Too many American leaders seem more focused on the vainglorious posturing that too often leads to armed conflict.—
Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board,
The Orlando Sentinel,
26 May 2025
Adjective
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It was being painted as an out-of-touch, arcane, and self-important social institution from a bygone era, and was doing very little to dispel that characterization.—
David Rosowsky,
Forbes.com,
13 June 2025
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This splendid, wry satire is about a wealthy family, self-important and confident in their morality, whose blithe and bumptious existences are thrown into disarray when their father clandestinely decides to give all their money to charity, and so (in their opinions) completely destroys their lives.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Jan. 2025
Adjective
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This includes uncouth habits like bad hygiene, inconsiderate acts like being self-centered or a violation of social norms.—
Mark Travers,
Forbes.com,
2 June 2025
-
Venis is ambitious, juvenile, and self-centered, even questioning whether other people are as real as him and his friends.—
Andrew R. Chow,
Time,
31 May 2025
Adjective
-
This is the worst kind of football team: a conceited but objectively mediocre squad.—
Dieter Kurtenbach,
The Mercury News,
17 Nov. 2024
-
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
-
This splendid, wry satire is about a wealthy family, self-important and confident in their morality, whose blithe and bumptious existences are thrown into disarray when their father clandestinely decides to give all their money to charity, and so (in their opinions) completely destroys their lives.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
7 Jan. 2025
-
As Peggy Dodd, consigliere to her bumptious 1950s cult-leader husband, Adams tends to wear a soft smile and blouses buttoned to the neck — a picture-perfect model of mid-century femininity.—
Matthew Jacobs,
Vulture,
6 Dec. 2024
Adjective
-
In a comedic twist, the Labrador retriever was filmed turning back to his owner during the drive, with a smug look on his face as if to boast about his comfortable spot.—
Melissa Fleur Afshar,
MSNBC Newsweek,
11 June 2025
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The letter writer’s smug verbiage may play well in one-party Maryland, but nationally, Americans seek a more collaborative, less agitational approach to political dialogue and reject arrogant, elitist insults spouted by some Democrats.—
Reader Commentary,
Baltimore Sun,
8 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Self-aggrandizing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-aggrandizing. Accessed 18 Jun. 2025.
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