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.

Mr. Robb’s attunement makes him a master geographer of the oldest and newest forms of life on a “sodden, self-aggrandizing island outpost.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026

That students aren’t allowed to ever be off-message and self-aggrandizing?

From Slate • May 2, 2024

I have long sided unreservedly with Truman on the issue — not so much on principle, I must admit, as because of MacArthur’s overweening, self-aggrandizing arrogance.

From Salon • Dec. 24, 2023

Audiences rooted for characters like Tony Soprano in “The Sopranos” and Walter White in “Breaking Bad,” and those mens’ actions were considerably more deadly and self-aggrandizing than Margo’s.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 22, 2023

It was a practical expression of the self-aggrandizing impulse that inspired other megastructures in the new Hellenistic kingdoms, such as the renovated Temple of Apollo at Didyma, or the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus.

From "Circumference" by Nicholas Nicastro