self-delusion
[self-di-loo-zhuh n, self-]
- the act or fact of deluding oneself.
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Origin of self-delusion
First recorded in 1625–35
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for self-delusion
Contemporary Examples
It would be self-delusion of the first order to assume health reform won't be a central issue in 2014.
Campaigns can often be breeding grounds for confidence bordering on self-delusion.
But his remarkable combination of grandiosity, self-delusion, and brazen, utter, shameless chutzpah keeps him coming back.
Self-delusion is a beautiful thing, but bravado is even better.
Second, people in positions of great authority are, and perhaps must be, capable of enormously high levels of self-delusion.
Historical Examples
"A natural sort of self-delusion in its way," said Grenfell, carelessly.
Luttrell Of ArranCharles James Lever
Any other reason or excuse she used was a sham, a self-delusion.
Ten From InfinityPaul W. Fairman
If it was only a self-delusion, an hallucination, he told himself that he would be content.
The OctopusFrank Norris
It is a self-delusion to attempt to derive monachism from the East.
The Essence of ChristianityLudwig Feuerbach
But it was self-delusion: she loved another; she married him.
The True Story of My LifeHans Christian Andersen
self-delusion
- the act or state of deceiving or deluding oneself
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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