narcissism
[nahr-suh-siz-em]
- inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
- Psychoanalysis. erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development.
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Also nar·cism [nahr-siz-uh m] /ˈnɑr sɪz əm/.
Origin of narcissism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for narcistic
Historical Examples
Narcistic neuroses can scarcely be approached by the same technique which served us in the transference neuroses.
A General Introduction to PsychoanalysisSigmund Freud
After forging ahead a little in the study of narcistic neuroses we always seem to come to a wall which impedes progress.
A General Introduction to PsychoanalysisSigmund Freud
narcissism
narcism (ˈnɑːˌsɪzəm)
- an exceptional interest in or admiration for oneself, esp one's physical appearance
- sexual satisfaction derived from contemplation of one's own physical or mental endowments
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Word Origin
C19: from Narcissus
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for narcistic
narcissism
n.
1905, from German Narzissismus, coined 1899 (in "Die sexuellen Perversitäten"), by German psychiatrist Paul Näcke (1851-1913), on a comparison suggested 1898 by Havelock Ellis, from Greek Narkissos, name of a beautiful youth in mythology (Ovid, "Metamorphoses," iii.370) who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned to the flower narcissus (q.v.). Coleridge used the word in a letter from 1822.
But already Krishna, enamoured of himself, had resolved to experience lust for his own self; he manifested his own Nature in the cow-herd girls and enjoyed them." [Karapatri, "Lingopasana-rahasya," Siddhanta, II, 1941-2]
Sometimes erroneously as narcism.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
narcissism
(när′sĭ-sĭz′əm)- Excessive love or admiration of oneself.
- A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem.
- Erotic pleasure derived from contemplation or admiration of one's own body or self, especially as a fixation on or a regression to an infantile stage of development.
- The attribute of the human psyche characterized by admiration of oneself but within normal limits.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
narcissism
[(nahr-suh-siz-uhm)]
A consuming self-absorption or self-love; a type of egotism. Narcissists constantly assess their appearance, desires, feelings, and abilities.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.