English

Noun

self-aggrandizement

1. Behavior which increases one's own wealth or power, or which is intended to create an appearance of importance.
   • 1906, Anna Katharine Green, The Chief Legatee, ch. 29:

     [W]hat can selfish greed, what can self-aggrandizement and the most pitiless ambition effect against men who own to such discipline as this?

   • 1907, Jack London, "A Day's Lodging" in The Love of Life and Other Stories:

     "In your case, I fear, confession is exploitation by indirection, profit-making by ruse, self-aggrandizement at the expense of God."

   • 2001 Feb. 25, Stacey D'Erasmo, "Here Comes the Neighborhood" (book review of Everyday People by Stewart O'Nan), New York Times (retrieved 5 July 2015):

     As readers, we sense when the game is being played for real and when something else is afoot: pride, showmanship, the pursuit of power, self-aggrandizement, revenge, making money.

See also

• self-aggrandizing

Translations