egocentricadj.n.
/ɛɡəʊˈsɛntrɪk/ A. adj.
a. Centred in the ego; in vague or popular use: self-centred, egoistic.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [adjective] > preoccupied with self
self-central1642
selfy1643
self-centred1645
self-concerned1653
self-involved1785
self-conscious1825
self-intoxicated1847
self-obsessed1878
egocentric1900
1900 in 19th Ann. Rep. Bureau Amer. Ethnol. 1897–8 831 An earlier ethnocentric system born of the primeval egocentric cosmos of inchoate thinking.
1901 in J. M. Baldwin Dict. Philos. & Psychol. II. 194/2 For the ego-centric point of view is substituted the homocentric.
1919 in B. H. Streeter Spirit iii. 97 The instincts, the radical fault in most of which is their selfish and egocentric character.
1926 19th Cent. July 83 The girl of to-day absorbs a freedom-loving and egocentric conception of life.
1943 H. Read Educ. through Art v. 140 When an attempt is made, not merely to express egocentric sensation..but also to represent an external object as it presents itself to the sensations of the artist..then some control is exercised by other than tactual and somatic sensations.
1953 R. Niebuhr Christian Realism & Polit. Probl. (1954) i. 22 It might be noted that, without a sense of the universality of an egocentric corruption, the passion for a universal humanity quickly degenerates.
1964 M. Critchley Developmental Dyslexia xii. 70 The age at which a child..turns from an autistic, egocentric individual, to a societal, ethnocentric being.
b. Philosophy. egocentric predicament, the supposed impossibility of knowing anything outside one's own mind.
ΚΠ
1910 R. B. Perry in Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & Sci. Methods 7 5 (title) The Ego-Centric Predicament.
1910 R. B. Perry in Jrnl. Philos., Psychol. & Sci. Methods 7 5 I shall seek to discover whether a certain circumstance, which has never been disputed, does or does not constitute evidence for a theory that has been much disputed. The circumstance I shall call the ego-centric predicament, and the theory, ontological idealism.
1917 A. S. Pringle-Pattison Idea of God x. 192 This is what an American Realist, in a phrase worthy of Kant, in its full-flavoured technicality, has dubbed ‘the ego-centric predicament’. The Ego is..the pre-supposition of all its knowledge.
B. n.
One who is self-centred.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [noun] > egotism > egotist
egotist1715
meist1737
egoist1794
automaniac1853
egomaniac1890
egocentrica1963
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 179 The hordes of the ego-centric, the robots.
a1963 L. MacNeice Astrol. (1964) iii. 86 Gemini is the patron not only of intellectuals but of egocentrics.
Derivatives
ˌegocenˈtricity n.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [noun] > egotism
egotizing1789
egotism1800
egoism1801
egomania1825
automania1835
solipsism1836
oneism1840
egoistry1841
self-obsession1884
ego1891
egocentricity1903
egocentrism1926
me-ism1980
1903 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. July–Oct. 100 Ziehen limits the hysterical constitution to emotional instability, egocentricity, craving for attention.
1918 E. Jones Papers on Psycho-anal. (ed. 2) 632 Its ruthless and absolute egocentricity.
1928 Brit. Weekly 22 Mar. 593/2 In this book the first personal pronoun occurs with a frequent and monotonous ego~centricity.
1957 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Oct. 637/1 The..complete ruthlessness and egocentricity of the very young female person.
1970 Daily Tel. 13 Mar. 17 Behind their sham chivalry, I contend, lurk some nasty tendencies to sadism, egocentricity, rebellion and neurosis.
egoˈcentrism n. the state or quality of being egocentric; self-centredness.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [noun] > egotism
egotizing1789
egotism1800
egoism1801
egomania1825
automania1835
solipsism1836
oneism1840
egoistry1841
self-obsession1884
ego1891
egocentricity1903
egocentrism1926
me-ism1980
1926 M. Warden tr. J. Piaget Lang. & Thought of Child v. 238 All ego-centrism is designed by its structure to stand half-way between autistic thought which is ‘undirected’..and ‘directed’ intelligence. Ego-centrism is therefore obedient to the self's good pleasure and not to the dictates of impersonal logic.
1934 Mind 43 87 Egocentrism, in so far as it means confusion of the ego and the external world, and egocentrism in so far as it means lack of co-operation, constitutes one and the same phenomenon.
1943 H. Read Educ. through Art viii. 276 Then by stages the player grows out of his egocentrism, observes other players, gradually begins to co-operate with others, and finally in conjunction with a group arrives at a reciprocal agreement embodying definite rules.
egoˈcentrically adv.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > evil nature or character > lack of magnanimity or noble-mindedness > self-interest > [adverb] > egotistically
egotistically1812
egoistically1879
solipsistically1898
solipsistically1941
egocentrically1969
1969 Daily Tel. 5 May 19/2 They hang on every word of the actorly actor, just as the actors themselves are egocentrically absorbed by anything but the truth.
1981 Word 1980 31 122 Parametric structuring is applied to Tolkien's representation of the specific effects of uncontrolled and egocentrically wielded power.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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adj.n.1900