self-aggrandizement

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English

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Etymology

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From self- +‎ aggrandizement.

Noun

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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, chapter 29, in The Chief Legatee:
      [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.

Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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