SELF-CONGRATULATION Synonyms: 71 Similar and Opposite Words

self-congratulation

noun

ˌself-kən-ˌgra-chə-ˈlā-shən

as in vanity

an often unjustified feeling of being pleased with oneself or with one's situation or achievements the air of self-congratulation that pervades the songwriter's memoirs

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of self-congratulation Anima's version involves more effort and less self-congratulation. — Daniel Scheffler, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2026 Today, the self-congratulation of white liberals has been displaced by white-supremacist promoters of Western civilization who don’t merely posit but brutally enforce inequality between races, peoples, cultures, and nation-states. — Christine Smallwood, Harpers Magazine, 24 Mar. 2026 Being vocally left-leaning thus provides social status benefits and forms of self-congratulation that being conservative doesn't (if anything, in terms of the broader culture and the opinion-formulating institutions, conservatism tends to be rather lonely and something of a social liability). — Bradley Gitz, Arkansas Online, 23 Mar. 2026 That is why this moment demands smarter policy choices, not self-congratulation. — Editorial, Boston Herald, 12 Jan. 2026 See All Example Sentences for self-congratulation

Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-congratulation

Noun

Rather than through a cold call or email, the scammers lure them through websites offering self-publishing or vanity publishing.

— Snigdha Poonam, The Dial, 13 Oct. 2026
And the angelic youth Dorian Gray’s deadly descent into vanity and vice—ignited by a hubristic obsession with his own image—eerily foreshadows the grim trajectory of Wilde’s later years.

— Hannah Aizenman, New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of vanity

Noun

Both teams now limp into Saturday's game in Austin with bruised bodies and egos, and carrying a whiff of desperation for a win to keep the season from unraveling.

— ABC News, ABC News, 15 Oct. 2026
Did that feel like a parody of my ego, or also a way to make fun of it?

— Alex Weprin, HollywoodReporter, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of ego

Noun

Ilya is looking for work as an assistant, and the professor, with his dandyish nerd arrogance, tells him to look at a paper he’s written and come back in a few days.

— Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026
This standalone novel looks at the cult of celebrity, the bond among parents and children, entitlement and arrogance, all wrapped into a tightly wound plot that’s an evocative historical steeped in the Great Depression.

— Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of arrogance

Noun

That joke, which McNamara hits with a palpable sparkle of smugness, illustrates how deliciously blunt her comedic sensibility is.

— Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 21 Sep. 2026
Even if the movie gets a bit crazy in an apocalyptic epilogue, its picture of bourgeois smugness due for a takedown is delicious.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of smugness

Noun

His household becomes a microcosm of a broader societal moral decay, fuelled by detachment, indifference, corruption, complacency and the pursuit of comfort.

— Katherine Brodsky, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
But Libertad underscores that there is far too much at stake in Puerto Rico at this moment for the band to operate from a place of complacency.

— Vanessa Diaz, Rolling Stone, 15 Oct. 2026

Definition of complacency

Browse Nearby Words

self-confidently

self-congratulation

self-congratulatory

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“Self-congratulation.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-congratulation. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of self-congratulation

noun

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