self-conscious
Americanadjective
-
excessively aware of being observed by others.
-
conscious of oneself or one's own being.
adjective
-
unduly aware of oneself as the object of the attention of others; embarrassed
-
conscious of one's existence
Usage
What does self-conscious mean? Self-conscious means overly aware of and sensitive to attention from others, often to the point of feeling anxious or embarrassed.In this sense, self-conscious is always used negatively. A person can be self-conscious in general, or about a particular aspect of themselves. Much less commonly, it is used to mean aware of one’s existence.Example: She says she never wears short-sleeved shirts because she’s self-conscious about the way her arms look.
Other Word Forms
- self-consciously adverb
- self-consciousness noun
Etymology
Origin of self-conscious
First recorded in 1670–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“To see him turned into this frightened, unsure, self-conscious human being, it wasn’t him.”
But it is dealing with like, “How much do I want to see? How self-conscious am I?”
From Los Angeles Times
"He's also become self-conscious about the scar on his face," she said.
From BBC
I sat there breathing, trying not to be self-conscious.
From Literature
As a teenager, she was self-conscious about her freckles and found it hard to please her glamorous parents.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
