Definition of "egotism" []

• The tendency to speak or write of oneself excessively and boastfully. (noun)
• An inflated sense of one's own importance; conceit. See Synonyms at conceit. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In fact, the word egotism originally referred just to the over use of I."
• "To place them above the gratification of individual egotism is the task of civilization."
• "I was indeed too full of vain egotism, which always discovers the gloom of ignorance, or dims the lustre of popular distinction."