self-important
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- self-importance noun
- self-importantly adverb
Etymology
Origin of self-important
First recorded in 1765–75
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.
As Frost pointed out, it’s not necessary to annoy people with self-important umbrage.
From Salon • Nov. 3, 2025
But there has always been a soft center to his self-important characters.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 8, 2025
The fact is that bringing together a host of successful but self-important luminaries to forecast the future is a mug’s game.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2024
It doesn’t make sense that Isaac, who comes off as a fairly self-important professional, doesn’t have any hired help when Sylvia arrives, especially given the family’s obvious economic resources.
From New York Times • Jan. 4, 2024
Those self-important women gained local immortality for the blandest, the most timid of eccentricities—walking a cat on a dog’s lead, riding about on a man’s bike, being seen with a sandwich in the street.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
