conceit
conceit Lexical Profile
conceit Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Excessive pride in oneself; an overly favorable opinion of one's own abilities, importance, or appearance.
"His insufferable conceit alienated many of his colleagues at the university."
A fanciful, ingenious, or elaborate metaphor or extended comparison in literature, especially one linking two strikingly dissimilar things.
"John Donne's famous comparison of two lovers to the legs of a drafting compass is a classic metaphysical conceit."
An artistic device, imaginative concept, or central premise used to structure a work of fiction, film, or theater.
"The novel relies on the clever conceit that the entire story is told through footnotes in an academic biography."
Word Nuance & Usage
In everyday conversation, 'conceit' almost always means excessive pride or vanity, whereas in literary criticism it is a neutral technical term referring to an elaborate, extended metaphor.
• Rhymes for conceit
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in Middle English as 'conceite' (meaning a concept or thought), patterned on 'deceit' and 'receipt' from the Old French verb 'conceivre' (to conceive), ultimately from Latin 'concipere' (to take in and hold).