self-conscious

self-conscious
1) ADJ-GRADED: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ about n Someone who is self-conscious is easily embarrassed and nervous because they feel that everyone is looking at them and judging them.

I felt a bit self-conscious in my swimming costume...

Bess was self-conscious about being shorter than her two friends.

Derived words:
self-consciously ADV-GRADED ADV with v

I glanced down at my dress jacket a little self-consciously...

She was fiddling self-consciously with her wedding ring.

self-consciousness N-UNCOUNT

...her painful self-consciousness.

2) ADJ-GRADED If you describe someone or something as self-conscious, you mean that they are strongly aware of who or what they are. [FORMAL]

They were forged by them, moreover, into a self-conscious nation as early as the 10th century...

Putting the work together is a very self-conscious process.

Derived words:
self-consciously ADV-GRADED ADV adj

The world which the book inhabits seems too self-consciously literary, too introverted...

The place is as self-consciously trendy as they come.


English dictionary. 2008.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • self-conscious — adjective 1. ) embarrassed or worried about how you look or what other people think of you: a self conscious laugh Knowing they were watching me made me feel self conscious. self conscious about: Jack was not in the least self conscious about his …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • self-conscious — [self′kän′shəs] adj. 1. a) conscious or, esp., unduly conscious of oneself as an object of notice [a self conscious poet] b) awkward or embarrassed in the presence of others; ill at ease c) indicating embarrassment [a self conscious cough] 2.… …   English World dictionary

  • Self-conscious — Self con scious, a. 1. Conscious of one s acts or state as belonging to, or originating in, one s self. My self conscious worth. Dryden. [1913 Webster] 2. Conscious of one s self as an object of the observation of others; as, the speaker was too… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • self-conscious — adj 1.) worried and embarrassed about what you look like or what other people think of you self conscious about ▪ Jerry s pretty self conscious about his weight. 2.) self conscious art, writing etc shows that the artist etc is paying too much… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • self-conscious — 1680s, aware of one s action, a word of the English Enlightenment (Locke was using it by 1690), from SELF (Cf. self) + CONSCIOUS (Cf. conscious). Morbid sense of preoccupied with one s own personality is attested from 1834 (in J.S. Mill) …   Etymology dictionary

  • self-conscious — self conscious; self conscious·ness; …   English syllables

  • self-conscious — ► ADJECTIVE 1) nervous or awkward because unduly aware of oneself or one s actions. 2) (especially of an action) deliberate and with full awareness. DERIVATIVES self consciously adverb self consciousness noun …   English terms dictionary

  • self-conscious — index diffident, histrionic Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • self-conscious — [adj] insecure with oneself affected, anxious, artificial, awkward, bashful, diffident, discomfited, embarrassed, ill at ease, mannered, nervous, out of countenance, shamefaced, sheepish, shy, stiff, stilted, uncertain, uncomfortable, uneasy,… …   New thesaurus

  • self-conscious — UK / US adjective 1) embarrassed or worried about how you look or what other people think of you Knowing they were watching me made me feel very self conscious. a self conscious laugh self conscious about: Jack was not in the least self conscious …   English dictionary

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