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egotistical

US/ˌi.ɡoʊˈtɪs.tɪk.(ə)l/
adjectiveC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

Egotistical describes somebody who talks about themselves and very little else. The colleague who turns every story back round to his own promotion.

It is a judgement and never a compliment, and it is stronger than merely proud. A proud person is pleased with what they did; an egotistical person cannot stop telling you. Egotistic is the shorter variant and means the same thing. Do not confuse it with egoism, which philosophers use for the doctrine that people always act in their own interest — egotistical is about the talking, not the theory.

Definitions of egotistical

  1. 1adjectiveegotisticalExcessively concerned with yourself and your own importance.C1

    “He was too egotistical to notice anyone else was speaking.”

    synonyms: conceited, self-important, vain

Where it comes from

From egotistic + -al.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 25 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

egotistical in the wild

  • Darryl's personality was seen as manipulative, egotistical and destructive.

    Darryl Neilson

  • Reena Roy plays the role of a defiant widow who reforms the egotistical Rajesh Khanna in the film.

    Dhanwan (1981 film)

  • In the play, the couple are transformed into the egotistical left-wing literary critic Sebastian and his East European refugee wife Lydia.

    In Praise of Love (play)

  • In "Banshee", director John Hampton and writer Douglas Rogers share an identical relationship (Hampton is a vain egotistical sadistic nasty prankster movie director).

    Banshee (short story)

  • The egotistical sublime contrasts with Keats's perception of 'negative capability' which he believed to be the ideal and exemplified by the sonnets of William Shakespeare.

    Egotistical sublime

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.