ego
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
your sense of your own value and importance, often used when someone thinks too highly of themselves.
an individual's sense of self-esteem or self-importance. Often used in a pejorative sense to describe arrogance or a fragile self-image.
Simple“He has a massive ego and hates it when people disagree with him.”
In context“The manager's fragile ego made it difficult for him to accept constructive criticism from his subordinates without becoming defensive.”
Synonyms - 02 C1 Advanced
the part of your mind that is aware of yourself and the world around you.
the part of the psychic apparatus that experiences and reacts to the outside world and mediates between primitive drives and social morals.
Simple“In his theory, the ego tries to balance what we want with what is possible.”
In context“Freudian theory posits that the ego functions as a mediator between the impulsive desires of the id and the idealistic standards of the superego.”
UsageUsually used with the definite article 'the'.
SynonymsAntonymsidsuperego - 03 C2 Proficiency
the person used as the starting point on a family tree or chart.
the individual from whose perspective a kinship chart is drawn or through whom relationships are traced.
Simple“On this family tree, ego is the person in the center marked with a square.”
In context“In anthropological diagrams, kinship terms are defined relative to ego, regardless of the actual biological connections involved.”
UsageTypically used without an article in academic diagrams.
“Artistically ambitious and with an ego the size of a small planet, Richard Strauss was rarely backwards in coming forwards.”
“Almodóvar may see Raúl, his alter ego, as something of a villain, but he has also described himself as a “victim” of his own passion for cinema.”
From Latin ego (“I”). Chosen by Freud’s translator as a translation of his use of German Ich as a noun for this concept from the pronoun ich (“I”). Doublet of I and Ich.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.