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.
Zadie Smith quit keeping a diary because the exercise made her feel phony and self-conscious.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
"I hate anybody watching me sing in the studio, because I'm kind of a self-conscious person and somebody pointing a camera at me doesn't help with that," he says.
From BBC • Jan. 22, 2026
“Growing up as a child of immigrants, I was kind of self-conscious about displaying too much of my culture,” she says between bites of spiral fried potato.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 23, 2025
“To see him turned into this frightened, unsure, self-conscious human being, it wasn’t him.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 22, 2025
I felt strangely panicked and self-conscious when I read that part, but there was also this quiet thrum of excitement.
From "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" by Becky Albertalli
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.
