vanity
noun
Simple meaning
Excessive pride in or admiration of one's own abilities, appearance, achievements.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
vanuhteeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈvænəti
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
Excessive pride in or admiration of one's own abilities, appearance, achievements, or possessions.
Feelings of excessive pride
Low table with mirror or mirrors where one sits while dressing or applying makeup
A dressing table used to apply makeup, preen, and coif hair, in which the table is normally quite low and similar to a desk.
That which is vain, futile, or worthless; that which is of no value, use or profit.
A washbasin installed into a permanently fixed storage unit, used as an item of bathroom furniture.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Excessive pride in or admiration of one's own abilities, appearance, achievements, or possessions.
Used this way, vanity is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It quietly approves while staying precise.
- Emotional tone
- Positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Successful and accomplished
- Usage feel
- Precise and approving
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use vanity
- “The actress's vanity often led her to obsess over her appearance.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A vain and frivolous lifestyle especially in large cities.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.