to pride oneself
- phrasal verb
- /praɪd wʌnˈsɛlf/
:
enorgullecerse
- She prides herself on always arriving on time for meetings.
Examples
-
They prided themselves on their hospitality and attention to detail.
-
As a craftsman, he prides himself in the quality of his work.
-
As a craftsman, he prides himself in the quality of his work.
-
She prides herself on always arriving on time for meetings.
-
They prided themselves on their hospitality and attention to detail.
Synonyms
45
3.4
To feel pleased about something you or others do
How Arrogant
14
8.1
24
5.4
- Archaic
260
4.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The verb 'pride' meaning 'to take pride in' combined with the reflexive pronoun 'oneself' yields a directly compositional meaning — feeling satisfaction about oneself. This reflexive construction is common cross-linguistically (e.g. Spanish 'orgullarse de sí mismo'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Pride oneself shows a small picture: pride is a pleased feeling and oneself is you, so it is like holding up something you did or have and feeling good about it. So, pride oneself means 'to feel pleased or satisfied about your own qualities, achievements, or possessions'.