bovarism

[ boh-vuh-riz-uhm ]

noun

1. an exaggerated, especially glamorized, estimate of oneself; conceit.

Other Words From

• bova·rist noun
• bova·ristic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of bovarism¹

First recorded in 1900–05; from French bovaryisme, after Emma Bovary, a character in Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary (1857); -ism

Example Sentences

This section is far more languid, with meditations on azaleas, architecture and “bovarism,” the romantic practice of escaping real life by focusing on impossible dreams.

From Washington Post

Jules de Gaultier seeks to apply to human life a principle of Bovarism by which we always naturally seek to appear other than we are, as Madame Bovary sought, as sought all Flaubert's personages, and indeed, less consciously on their creator's part, Gaultier claims, the great figures in all fiction.

From Project Gutenberg

There is, however, this difference in the Bovarism of Nature's most exquisite moments.

From Project Gutenberg

Now see how Illusion enters into the world, and men are moved by what Jules de Gaultier calls Bovarism, the desire to be other than they are.

From Project Gutenberg