Definition

1. Noun:
   • Excessive and boastful pride in oneself or one's achievements; unwarranted vanity. "Vainglory" refers to an ostentatious and empty display of pride, often without a corresponding merit or achievement to justify it. It implies a hollow, showy conceit.

Usage

• "Vainglory" is a formal and somewhat literary term used to describe a particularly showy and unjustified form of arrogance. It often carries a critical or negative connotation, suggesting the pride is shallow and focused on public admiration rather than genuine self-worth.

Examples

• Noun:
  • His speech was an exercise in pure vainglory, full of self-praise but lacking in substance.
  • The king's vainglory led him to build monuments to his own name while his people suffered.
  • She saw through his vainglory and recognized the insecurity it masked.

Advanced Usage

• "To be puffed up with vainglory": to be swollen with excessive and empty pride.
  • After the minor victory, he was puffed up with vainglory, acting as if he had won the war single-handedly.

Variants and Related Words

• Vainglorious (adj): Characterized by or exhibiting vainglory; boastfully vain.
  • He was a vainglorious leader, more concerned with his image than with effective governance.

Synonyms

• Conceit: Excessive pride in oneself.
• Arrogance: An attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner.
• Egotism: The practice of talking and thinking about oneself excessively because of an undue sense of self-importance.
• Boastfulness: The quality of bragging or talking with excessive pride.

Antonyms

• Humility: A modest or low view of one's own importance.
• Modesty: The quality of being unassuming in the estimation of one's abilities.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• "A monument to vainglory": Something built or created primarily to satisfy excessive, showy pride.
  • Critics dismissed the towering statue as nothing more than a monument to the mayor's vainglory.

Noun

1. outspoken conceit