self-aggrandizement

From self- +‎ aggrandizement.

self-aggrandizement (countable and uncountable, plural self-aggrandizements)

1. Behaviour which increases one's own wealth or power, or which is intended to create an appearance of importance.
   • 1906, Anna Katharine Green, chapter 29, in The Chief Legatee:

     [W]hat can selfish greed, what can self-aggrandizement and the most pitiless ambition effect against men who own to such discipline as this?

   • 1907 September, Jack London, “A Day’s Lodging”, in Love of Life and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published December 1907, →OCLC, page 64:

     In your case, I fear, confession is exploitation by indirection, profit-making by ruse, self-aggrandizement at the expense of God.

   • 2001 February 25, Stacey D’Erasmo, “Here comes the neighborhood [review of Everyday People (2001) by Stewart O’Nan]”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 April 2022:

     As readers, we sense when the game is being played for real and when something else is afoot: pride, showmanship, the pursuit of power, self-aggrandizement, revenge, making money.

   • 2014 July 1, Frank Jacobs, “Welcome to Stanistan”, in Foreign Policy‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 August 2023:

     Belarus was always going to be the most willing partner in Russia’s attempts at self-aggrandizement.

• self-aggrandizing

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