Definition of self-flattery in English:

noun

• The holding of an unjustifiably high opinion of oneself or one's actions.

  Example sentences

  • ‘The self-flagellation about our failure to act against evil is at the same time a form of self-flattery.’
  • ‘Here character, diction and motive come together, and all the preciousness and self-flattery drop away.’
  • ‘It demands nothing of its audience and offers only a self-flattery that goes by the name of self-esteem.’
  • ‘I do not say this as a gesture of misplaced self-flattery, since what I plan to do here is very modest indeed.’
  • ‘I am tempted sometimes to say that the only point of conspicuous compassion is action, the rest is self-flattery.’
  • ‘I like being compared to all good musicians but I dare say that is just because of self-flattery.’
  • ‘Ultimately this is where my self-flattery points: my brain.’
  • ‘Through a combination of cynicism and self-flattery, we put their accomplishments on a par with the banalities of contemporary celebrity culture.’
  • ‘Still, some basic reporting can be done (and I think I can say without self-flattery or self-abnegation that I am not a conduit of choice for national-security leaking).’