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.

The reason why the widow’s claims were left long unsettled in the court was the self-pleasing indolence of the judge.

From The Parables of Our Lord by Arnot, William

Save her from her sins? from pride and anger and self-will and self-pleasing? why, they were inborn; they were in her very blood; they came like the breath of her breathing.

From A Letter of Credit by Warner, Susan

Lives to uphold to the view of our self-pleasing generation!

From A Story of One Short Life, 1783 to 1818 by Stryker, Elisabeth G.

She had never heard anything yet discussed save on the principle of self-pleasing or self-aggrandizement; here, self-spending was the axiom on which all the problems were worked.

From Hopes and Fears or, scenes from the life of a spinster by Yonge, Charlotte Mary

I have known characters of this kind, which, in the way of childish ignorance and self-pleasing delusion, exceeded anything to be met with in Shakespeare or Ben Jonson, or the Old Comedy.’

From Obiter Dicta Second Series by Birrell, Augustine