Meaning & use
self-aggrandisement
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Meaning
noununcountableformaldisapproving
The act of making yourself seem more important, powerful, or successful than you really are.
Grammar: Uncountable, so it takes no plural and no 'a/an': 'a display of self-aggrandisement', not 'a self-aggrandisement'.
Patterns
- a display of self-aggrandisement
- accuse someone of self-aggrandisement
Critics called the memoir an exercise in self-aggrandisement rather than honest reflection.
His constant self-aggrandisement made it hard for colleagues to trust him.
The award ceremony was less about the science than about the director's self-aggrandisement.
Common combinations
- an act of self-aggrandisement
- Buying the company jet looked like an act of self-aggrandisement.
- pure self-aggrandisement
- The whole speech was pure self-aggrandisement from start to finish.
- a form of self-aggrandisement
- Some see blogging as a harmless form of self-aggrandisement.
- accuse someone of self-aggrandisement
- The senator was accused of self-aggrandisement when he renamed the bridge after himself.
Synonyms and how they differ
- boasting
- Boasting is everyday and focuses on talking proudly about yourself, while self-aggrandisement is formal and suggests a broader effort to inflate your importance.
- self-promotion
- Self-promotion is often neutral and can be a sensible career skill; self-aggrandisement is always critical.
- grandiosity
- Grandiosity is a more clinical word for an inflated sense of your own importance, often used in psychology.
Opposites
Word family
- self-aggrandizing adjective
- Describing behaviour that makes someone seem more important than they are.
- aggrandize verb
- To increase your own power or importance, or to make something seem greater.
- aggrandizement noun
- The American spelling of the same noun.
Commonly confused: self-aggrandisement or self-aggrandizement?
self-aggrandisement vs self-aggrandizement
This is the American spelling of the same word, not a different meaning. Use -ise/-isement in British English and -ize/-izement in American English.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'self-aggrandisement' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Self-aggrandisement' means making yourself seem more important, so 'an exercise in self-aggrandisement' fits. Option An is wrong because helping others is generous, not self-important; option C fails because the noun is uncountable; option D confuses it with a word like 'adjustment' or 'move'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “self-aggrandisement”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.