Meaning & use
get over yourself
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiominformaldisapproving
Used to tell someone to stop acting as though they are more important or special than they really are.
Grammar: Usually a command, and the pronoun changes with the person: get over yourself, but he needs to get over himself.
Patterns
- get over yourself
- tell someone to get over themselves
Oh, get over yourself, nobody was staring at your shoes.
My sister told him to get over himself after he complained about the free dessert.
Honestly, she needs to get over herself and say hello to the new neighbors.
Word forms
| third person singular | gets over himself/herself |
|---|---|
| past tense | got over himself/herself |
Common combinations
- tell someone to get over themselves
- I almost told the customer to get over himself.
- need to get over yourself
- You need to get over yourself; it was only a joke.
- just get over yourself
- Just get over yourself and apologize.
- time to get over yourself
- It's time to get over yourself and share the credit.
Synonyms and how they differ
- stop being so full of yourself
- This is a longer, plainer version that spells out the criticism, while get over yourself is shorter and sharper.
- come down off your high horse
- This idiom is more old-fashioned and focuses on acting superior, not just self-importance.
- don't flatter yourself
- Don't flatter yourself answers a specific claim someone makes about their own appeal, while get over yourself is a general rebuke.
- lighten up
- Lighten up asks someone to be less serious, but does not accuse them of arrogance.
Word family
- get over phrasal verb
- to recover from something or deal with it
- self-important adjective
- having an exaggerated sense of your own importance
- full of yourself phrase
- too proud of yourself
Commonly confused: get over yourself or get over it?
get over yourself vs get over it
Get over it tells someone to stop being upset about a past event. Get over yourself tells them to stop being arrogant or self-centered.
Practice
A friend keeps bragging that everyone at the party was looking at her. You say, "Oh, ____." What fits?
Choose one answer.
Get over yourself criticizes self-importance. Get over it would mean stop being upset about something, which does not match her bragging.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “get over yourself”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.