self-delusion

[self-di-loo-zhuhn, self-]

noun

1. the act or fact of deluding oneself.

self-delusion

noun

1. the act or state of deceiving or deluding oneself

Other Word Forms

• self-deluded adjective
• self-deluding adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of self-delusion¹

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

In the long term, Israel and the U.S. must avoid self-delusion: Hamas hasn’t disappeared.

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See above re: superhuman levels of self-delusion that typically function as an asset.

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Most likely resort to garden-variety self-delusion to maintain their support.

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But what it shows — contradictions, failings, rationalizations, self-delusion, despair — is moving, particularly if you’re familiar with the neon-bright dread of addictions that can’t be loved away.

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Do had “received no actual payment to himself—all significant funds were provided to his daughter Rhiannon Do,” the defense wrote in a court motion, claiming he had been “willfully blinded to the violations by the desire to see benefit to his adult daughter.… He now recognizes how completely wrong he was in this catastrophic self-delusion.”

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