self-absorption
5
8.1
- noun
- /ˌsɛlf əbˈsɔrpʃən/
- His self-absorption made it difficult for him to empathize with anyone else's problems.
Examples
-
The incipient poet speaks with the self-absorption that characterizes the adolescent psyche.
Academic text (2001) -
One was the understandable self-absorption of Americans and their leaders after September 11.
Academic text (2008) -
It's hard enough for them to deal with their own self-absorption.
Academic text (2005) -
In my case, self-absorption is completely justified.
-
If you forgot about her self-absorption and just listened to her, you could really have a good laugh.
Fiction book (2002) -
Instead, boarding schools need to challenge the self-absorption and career predilections of their students.
Academic text (1996) -
But their moodiness and self-absorption can be infectious, too.
Academic text (2005) -
A psychologist might well discern a certain self-absorption in her attitude toward the first birth.
Academic text (1994) -
There's an unparalleled self absorption at the heart of Milton's writing.
-
New Age gangsters: Mason sensed a sucking emptiness in them, the void that comes of total self-absorption.
Fiction book (2000)
Synonyms
6
6.1
Thinking and talking about yourself too much and feeling better than others
2
7.2
A habit of caring mainly about your own needs and not others
1
9.1
A very strong focus on yourself and your needs
1
5.3
Care for your own needs and interests
1
8.2
A habit of putting your own needs before other people's
1
9.5
Putting your own needs before the needs of other people
Antonyms
How Self-Absorbed
32
8.1
1
8.8
5
8.1
- US
2
5.8
12
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
self-absorption = absorption (transparent) = self + absorption
Clear compound of 'self' + 'absorption' meaning being absorbed in oneself, directly predictable from its parts.
Etymology
Self-absorption comes from the parts self and absorb; self means the person, and absorb originally means 'to take in', like a sponge soaking up water. So self-absorption is when someone soaks up their own thoughts and feelings and pays little attention to others.