Did you know?
Vanity vs. Pride
People often turn to the dictionary in search of the minute and subtle differences between two similar words. The closely related duo of vanity and pride, which overlap significantly in some respects yet differ in others, offer one such example. Putting aside such uses as pride referring to “a company of lions” and vanity meaning “a dressing table,” each of these words may refer to a state of excessive self-esteem. However, pride may also signify a feeling of satisfaction or happiness (either in oneself or on behalf of others) based on something that is well done; vanity is unlikely to be used in this manner. For a well-worded explanation of this distinction, we might look to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, in which the character Mary opines: “Vanity and pride are different things, though the words are often used synonymously. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us.”
Synonyms
Noun
- amour propre
- bighead
- complacence
- complacency
- conceit
- conceitedness
- ego
- egotism
- pomposity
- pompousness
- pride
- pridefulness
- self-admiration
- self-assumption
- self-conceit
- self-congratulation
- self-esteem
- self-glory
- self-importance
- self-love
- self-opinion
- self-satisfaction
- smugness
- swelled head
- swellheadedness
- vaingloriousness
- vainglory
- vainness
Examples of vanity in a Sentence
Demetrius Simms, Robb Report, 6 Nov. 2024
Scroll to give your vanity the Mrs. Bieber treatment at a discount as the holiday weekend approaches.
—Anamaria Glavan, Allure, 31 Oct. 2024
Jon Blistein, Rolling Stone, 19 July 2022
See all Example Sentences for vanity 
Dictionary Entries Near vanity
Cite this Entry
“Vanity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vanity. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
Copy Citation
Share