narcissism
- 01 C1 Advanced
the habit of thinking too much about yourself and wanting others to admire you.
an excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one's physical appearance; in psychology, it involves an inflated sense of self-importance.
Simple“His narcissism made it hard for him to listen to anyone else's problems.”
In context“The politician's narcissism was evident in his constant need for public validation and his inability to accept even constructive criticism.”
UsageUsually uncountable; often used to describe a personality flaw rather than a clinical diagnosis in casual conversation.
Teacher's tipWhile used casually to mean 'vanity', in academic or medical contexts it refers to a specific personality disorder (NPD).
- 02 C2 Proficiency
feeling sexual attraction toward your own body.
erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical attributes.
Simple“In some early psychology books, narcissism was described as a type of sexual attraction to oneself.”
In context“The original psychoanalytic definition of narcissism focused on the redirection of the libido toward the subject's own body.”
UsagePrimarily found in psychoanalytic literature.
Teacher's tipThis is a very specialized sense. Most modern learners will only encounter the 'self-centered' meaning.
Synonymsautophilia
There was a youth named Narcissus who was so beautiful that everyone who saw him fell in love with him, and he loved none of them back. Nymphs and maidens sighed for him and he passed them by without a glance. One of them, the nymph Echo, loved him so hopelessly that when he spurned her she wasted away until only her voice was left, repeating the last words of anyone who spoke.
For all the hearts he had broken, a punishment was decreed: Narcissus would love, and love in vain, as others had loved him. So one hot day, tired from hunting, he knelt at the edge of a still, silver pool to drink.
And there in the water he saw a face, the most perfect face he had ever beheld, gazing back up at him. He did not understand that it was his own reflection. He reached for it and the water broke and the face scattered; he waited, and it returned. He leaned to kiss it and met only cold water. He begged it to stay, and it moved its lips but made no sound.
He could not tear himself away. He forgot to eat, forgot to drink, forgot everything but the beautiful stranger in the pool who was himself. And so, bent over his own image, gazing at what he could never hold, he pined away and died on the bank, and where he had lain there grew a nodding white flower that still bears his name.
From Narcissus and his fatal love of his own reflection we get narcissism: an excessive, absorbing love of oneself, so consuming that it shuts out everyone else and, in the end, harms no one so much as the person caught in it.
Original etymology written by Shinotoshi Nakamura.
Expressions the ancient Greek myths left in everyday English.
- 01
a Herculean task (idiom)
A task requiring enormous strength, effort, or determination to complete.
- 02
a Pyrrhic victory (idiom)
A win that costs so much it feels almost like a defeat.
- 03
a Sisyphean task (idiom)
A task that is endless and futile, because it must be repeated forever without ever being finished.
- 04
Achilles' heel (idiom)
A single hidden weakness in someone or something otherwise strong.
- 05
Ariadne's thread (idiom)
A method or clue that guides you safely through a confusing, complicated problem.
- 06
atlas (word)
a book of maps or a collection of charts; it can also refer to a specific bone in your neck or a figure from Greek mythology.