self-absorbed
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does self-absorbed mean? Self-absorbed is an adjective used to describe a person who’s preoccupied with their own wants and needs. When used in this term, the word absorbed means deeply preoccupied or totally wrapped up in something—in this case, oneself. Self-absorbed is almost always used negatively. When you call people self-absorbed, it usually means you think they only think about and care about themselves. The term is typically used to describe a person’s overall personality (as opposed to their behavior on a certain day or at a certain time). The state of being self-absorbed is called self-absorption (notice how the b becomes a p in the noun absorption). Example: My therapist helped me to see how self-absorbed I was, only ever thinking about myself and making everything about me.
Etymology
Origin of self-absorbed
First recorded in 1840–50
Explanation
If you're overly concerned with yourself, including your own feelings and thoughts, you're self-absorbed. Self-absorbed people don't think much about how others are feeling. Your self-absorbed acquaintance Isn't likely to ask you sincerely how you're doing today, because he's too busy thinking about himself. And a self-absorbed driver who gets in a fender bender might rush to see if her car is scratched rather than checking to make sure her passenger is okay. Self-absorbed dates from the late 18th century, from self and absorbed, "engrossed mentally."
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.
He does things his own way and there are times, like last week, when that makes him appear self-absorbed - a trait that does not usually play well in a golf locker room.
From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026
In 2016’s The Mandibles, she created a character whom she described as a “pure piss-take” of herself: belligerent, tactless, a maniacal exerciser–the Ur-Boomer, utterly self-absorbed and an unalloyed financial disaster for society.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 31, 2026
"We will no longer be an isolated country, a country that is self-absorbed and acts solely out of political necessity."
From Barron's ● Nov. 21, 2025
Reichardt is laying bare a privileged man’s half-assed delinquency, especially with O’Connor so hypnotic at conveying self-absorbed cluelessness with his woeful eyes, posture and movement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
Her hands are shaking as she refastens her purse, and when it’s closed, she faces me and says, “No, excuse me for raising such a self-absorbed daughter.”
From "The Running Dream" by Wendelin Van Draanen
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.
