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vanity

[van-i-tee]
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noun, plural van·i·ties.
  1. excessive pride in one's appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.; character or quality of being vain; conceit: Failure to be elected was a great blow to his vanity.
  2. an instance or display of this quality or feeling.
  3. something about which one is vain or excessively proud: His good looks are his greatest vanity.
  4. lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness: the vanity of a selfish life.
  5. something worthless, trivial, or pointless.
  6. vanity case.
  7. dressing table.
  8. a wide, counterlike shelf containing a wash basin, as in the bathroom of a hotel or residence, often equipped with shelves, drawers, etc., underneath.
  9. a cabinet built below or around a bathroom sink, primarily to hide exposed pipes.
  10. compact1(def 13).
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adjective
  1. produced as a showcase for one's own talents, especially as a writer, actor, singer, or composer: surprisingly entertaining for a vanity production.
  2. of, relating to, or issued by a vanity press: a spate of vanity books.
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Origin of vanity

1200–50; Middle English vanite < Old French < Latin vānitās, equivalent to vān- (see vain) + -itās- -ity
Related formsvan·i·tied, adjective

Synonyms

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1. egotism, complacency, vainglory, ostentation. See pride. 4. emptiness, sham, unreality, folly, triviality, futility.

Antonyms

1. humility.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

pridearrogancenarcissismself-loveshowostentationpretensionairsvaingloryaffectationdisplayconceitednesssmugnessself-worshipself-admiration

Examples from the Web for vanity

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • Her woman's vanity blossomed deliciously in the atmosphere of a man's love.

    Viviette

    William J. Locke

  • And have you not before now said, that nothing is so penetrating as the eye of a lover who has vanity?

    Clarissa, Volume 1 (of 9)

    Samuel Richardson

  • Alas, the vanity of mortal projects, even when they centre in the grave!

    Other Tales and Sketches

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • Her slips with these men wounded Shakespeare's vanity, and he persisted in underrating her.

  • When his vanity was injured, his blindness was almost inconceivable.

British Dictionary definitions for vanity

vanity

noun plural -ties
  1. the state or quality of being vain; excessive pride or conceit
  2. ostentation occasioned by ambition or pride
  3. an instance of being vain or something about which one is vain
  4. the state or quality of being valueless, futile, or unreal
  5. something that is worthless or useless
  6. NZ short for vanity unit
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Word Origin

C13: from Old French vanité, from Latin vānitās emptiness, from vānus empty
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for vanity

n.

early 13c., "that which is vain, futile, or worthless," from Old French vanite, from Latin vanitatem (nominative vanitas) "emptiness, foolish pride," from vanus "empty, vain, idle" (see vain). Meaning "self-conceited" is attested from mid-14c. Vanity table is attested from 1936. Vanity Fair is from "Pilgrim's Progress" (1678).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper