ego

plural egos

1. countableuncountableThe self, especially with a sense of self-importance.

   1 more example

   When every thought absorbs your attention completely, when you are so identified with the voice in your head and the emotions that accompany it that you lose yourself in every thought and every emotion, then you are totally identified with form and therefore in the grip of ego. Ego is a conglomeration of recurring thought forms and conditioned mental-emotional patterns that are invested with a sense of I, a sense of self.

   1998, Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth

2. countableuncountableFreudianhuman sciencesThe most central part of the mind, which mediates with one's surroundings.

   In the well adjusted person the ego is the executive of the personality and is governed by the reality principle.

   1954, Calvin S. Hall, A Primer of Freudian Psychology

   1 more example

   ‘Everything begins with “I”, you mean. Which is ego,’ said Tom, placing an ankle behind his ear, ‘not id.’

   1991 September, Stephen Fry, chapter 1, in The Liar, London: Heinemann, →ISBN, section I, page 13

3. countableuncountableA person's self-esteem and opinion of themselves.

   Too many gay people "come out" publicly, yet fail to achieve truly healthy egos. They "adjust" to being less than whole or integrated persons.

   1976 February 7, Philip Gambone, “Coming Out: The Gay Identity Process”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 32, page 4

   1 more example

   My columns in the early days of the Labour government often featured John Prescott, who was in charge of transport as part of a mega-department created to match his ego.

   2024 January 10, Christian Wolmar, “A time for change? ... just as it was back in issue 262”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 60

4. countableuncountablegenealogyanthropologyThe individual from whose point of view a family tree or pedigree chart is drawn, or the reference point from whom kinship terminology is relative. (Used without the definite article the.)

   the cousin of ego on the father's side

present singular third person egos · participle present egoing · participle past egoed · past egoed · participle past ego'd · past ego'd

1. InternettransitiveTo damage someone's ego.