self-absorbed

adjective

Overly concerned about oneself, to the point of ignoring the feelings of others.

“I don't want to call him self-absorbed but he was more concerned with the scratch on his car than the people in the car he hit.”

Similar
inconsiderateself-centeredsolipsisticthoughtlessegocentricegoisticalevery man for himselfidiocentric
OriginEnglish absorbed ← Middle English self- ← Old English self- →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

adjectiveself-absorbed (comparative more self-absorbed, superlative most self-absorbed)

comparative more self-absorbed · superlative most self-absorbed

  1. Overly concerned about oneself, to the point of ignoring the feelings of others.

    I don't want to call him self-absorbed but he was more concerned with the scratch on his car than the people in the car he hit.

    Synonyms: inconsiderate, self-centered, solipsistic, thoughtless, egocentric, egoistical, every man for himself, idiocentric

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectiveOverly concerned about oneself, to the point of ignoring the feelings of others.

Similar
inconsiderateself-centeredsolipsisticthoughtlessegocentricegoisticalevery man for himselfidiocentricindividualisticinterestedporkishreptilianselfishselflikeselfsomeself-centeredself-interestedself-mindedself-seeking

More synonyms by meaning

adjectiveabsorbed in your own interests or thoughts etc

Similar
self-involvedselfishegoisticegoistical
Also see
egocentricegoisticegoisticalevery man for himselfidiocentricindividualisticinterestedinward-lookingmasturbatoryporkishself-centeredself-interestedself-involvedselfishselflikeself-mindedself-seekingself-servingselfsomesolipsistic

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*swé?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
  3. Proto-Germanic*selbaz
  4. Old Englishself
  5. Old Englishself-
  6. Middle Englishself-
  7. Englishself-
  8. Englishabsorbed
  9. Englishself-absorbed

From self- + absorbed.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian егоцентричен
  • егоцентричен (egocentričen)heavily concerned with oneself
Chinese Mandarin 自私的, 固执己见的
  • 自私的heavily concerned with oneself
  • 固执己见的heavily concerned with oneself
Dutch in zichzelf verdiept, met alleen aandacht voor zichzelf
  • in zichzelf verdieptheavily concerned with oneself
  • met alleen aandacht voor zichzelfheavily concerned with oneself
Finnish itseriittoinen
  • itseriittoinenheavily concerned with oneself
French égocentrique
  • égocentriqueheavily concerned with oneself
Norwegian Bokmål selvopptatt
  • selvopptattheavily concerned with oneself
Polish pochłonięty sobą
  • pochłonięty sobąheavily concerned with oneself
Portuguese egoísta
  • egoístaheavily concerned with oneself
Spanish autoabsorto, ensimismado
  • autoabsortoheavily concerned with oneself
  • ensimismadoheavily concerned with oneself
  • egocéntricoheavily concerned with oneself
Thai เอาแต่ใจ, เห็นแก่ตัว
  • เอาแต่ใจ (ao-dtɛ̀ɛ-jai)heavily concerned with oneself
  • เห็นแก่ตัว (hěn-gɛ̀ɛ-dtuua)heavily concerned with oneself
Cite this entry
APA

self-absorbed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-absorbed

MLA

“self-absorbed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-absorbed. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-absorbed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-absorbed.

Source: self-absorbed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.