Word Meanings - VANITY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

1. The quality or state of being vain; want of substance to satisfy desire; emptiness; unsubstantialness; unrealness; falsity. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Eccl. i. 2. Here I may well show the vanity

Additional info about word: VANITY

1. The quality or state of being vain; want of substance to satisfy desire; emptiness; unsubstantialness; unrealness; falsity. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. Eccl. i. 2. Here I may well show the vanity of that which is reported in the story of Walsingham. Sir J. Davies. 2. An inflation of mind upon slight grounds; empty pride inspired by an overweening conceit of one's personal attainments or decorations; an excessive desire for notice or approval; pride; ostentation; conceit. The exquisitely sensitive vanity of Garrick was galled. Macaulay. 3. That which is vain; anything empty, visionary, unreal, or unsubstantial; fruitless desire or effort; trifling labor productive of no good; empty pleasure; vain pursuit; idle show; unsubstantial enjoyment. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher. Eccl. i. 2. Vanity possesseth many who are desirous to know the certainty of things to come. Sir P. Sidney. with vanity had filled the works of men. Milton. Think not, when woman's transient breath is fled, That all her vanities at once are dead; Succeeding vanities she still regards. Pope. 4. One of the established characters in the old moralities and puppet shows. See Morality, n., 5. You . . . take vanity the puppet's part. Shak. Syn. -- Egotism; pride; emptiness; worthlessness; self-sufficiency. See Egotism, and Pride.

Possible synonyms: (Same meaning words of VANITY)

• Conceit
• Idea
• notion
• thought
• affectation
• vanity
• abstraction
• imagination
• conception
• whim
• vagary
• egotism
• Egotism
• selfassertion
• self-conceit
• self-praise
• self-exaltation
• conceitedness
• Levity
• Lightness
• frivolity
• inconstancy
• flightiness
• thoughtlessness

Related words: (words related to VANITY)

• AFFECTATIONIST
  One who exhibits affectation. Fitzed. Hall.
• THOUGHT
  imp. & p. p. of Think.
• LIGHTNESS
  The state, condition, or quality, of being light or not heavy; buoyancy; levity; fickleness; delicacy; grace. Syn. -- Levity; volatility; instability; inconstancy; unsteadiness; giddiness; flightiness; airiness; gayety; liveliness; agility;
• ABSTRACTION
  The act process of leaving out of consideration one or more properties of a complex object so as to attend to others; analysis. Thus, when the mind considers the form of a tree by itself, or the color of the leaves as separate from their size or
• IMAGINATIONALISM
  Idealism. J. Grote.
• SELF-CONCEIT
  Conceit of one's self; an overweening opinion of one's powers or endowments. Syn. -- See Egotism.
• THOUGHTLESS
  1. Lacking thought; careless; inconsiderate; rash; as, a thoughtless person, or act. 2. Giddy; gay; dissipated. Johnson. 3. Deficient in reasoning power; stupid; dull. Thoughtless as monarch oaks that shade the plain. Dryden. -- Thought"less*ly,
• CONCEPTIONAL
  Pertaining to conception.
• CONCEITEDLY
  1. In an egotistical manner. 2. Fancifully; whimsically.
• VANITY BOX
  A small box, usually jeweled or of precious metal and worn on a chain, containing a mirror, powder puff, and other small toilet articles for a woman.
• NOTIONATE
  Notional.
• CONCEITEDNESS
  The state of being conceited; conceit; vanity. Addison.
• FRIVOLITY
  The condition or quality of being frivolous; also, acts or habits of trifling; unbecoming levity of disposition.
• FLIGHTINESS
  The state or quality of being flighty. The flightness of her temper. Hawthorne. Syn. -- Levity; giddiness; volatility; lightness; wildness; eccentricity. See Levity.
• IMAGINATION
  1. The imagine-making power of the mind; the power to create or reproduce ideally an object of sense previously perceived; the power to call up mental imagines. Our simple apprehension of corporeal objects, if present, is sense; if absent,
• CONCEPTIONALIST
  A conceptualist.
• IMAGINATIONAL
  Pertaining to, involving, or caused by, imagination.
• SELF-CONCEITED
  Having an overweening opinion of one's own powers, attainments; vain; conceited. -- Self`-con*ceit"ed*ness, n.
• ABSTRACTIONAL
  Pertaining to abstraction.
• EGOTISM
  The practice of too frequently using the word I; hence, a speaking or writing overmuch of one's self; self-exaltation; self- praise; the act or practice of magnifying one's self or parading one's own doings. The word is also used in the sense of
• SUPERCONCEPTION
  Superfetation. Sir T. Browne.
• SLIGHTNESS
  The quality or state of being slight; slenderness; feebleness; superficiality; also, formerly, negligence; indifference; disregard.
• BETHOUGHT
  imp. & p. p. of Bethink.
• FORETHOUGHT
  Thought of, or planned, beforehand; aforethought; prepense; hence, deliberate. "Forethought malice." Bacon.
• NEW THOUGHT
  Any form of belief in mental healing other than Christian Science and hypnotism or psychotherapy. Its central principle is affirmative thought, or suggestion, employed with the conviction that man produces changes in his health, his finances,
• PRECONCEPTION
  The act of preconceiving; conception or opinion previously formed.