Meanings
adjectiveself-conscious (comparative more self-conscious, superlative most self-conscious)
comparative more self-conscious · superlative most self-conscious · alternative selfconscious
- Aware of oneself as an individual being.
- Excessively conscious of one's appearance or behaviour.
“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”
1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC - Uncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveaware of yourself as an individual or of your own being and actions and thoughts
Similar
adjectiveexcessively and uncomfortably conscious of your appearance or behavior
Similar
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*swé?
- Proto-Indo-European*selbʰ-
- Proto-Germanic*selbaz
- Old Englishself
- Old Englishself-
- Middle Englishself-
- Englishself-
- Englishconscious
- Englishself-conscious
Translations
Bulgarian самосъзнаващ се
- самосъзнаващ се (samosăznavašt se)aware of oneself as an individual being
Czech sociálně nejistý
- sociálně nejistýuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
Dutch zelfbewust, onzeker
- zelfbewustaware of oneself as an individual being
- onzekeruncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
Finnish itsetietoinen, omahyväinen
- itsetietoinenaware of oneself as an individual being
- omahyväinenexcessively conscious of one's appearance or behaviour
- liian itsetietoinenexcessively conscious of one's appearance or behaviour
- hämillinenuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- estoinenuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- vaivaantunutuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
French introspectif
- introspectifaware of oneself as an individual being
German selbstbewusst, zu selbstbewusst sein
- selbstbewusstaware of oneself as an individual being
- zu selbstbewusst seinexcessively conscious of one's appearance or behaviour
- unbehaglichuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- verlegenuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- befangenuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- gehemmtuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- verunsichertuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
Hebrew נבוך
- נבוך (navoh)aware of oneself as an individual being
Hungarian félénk, gátlásos
- félénkuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- gátlásosuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
Icelandic sjálf meðvitaður
- sjálf meðvitaðuraware of oneself as an individual being
Irish féin-chomhfhiosach
- féin-chomhfhiosachaware of oneself as an individual being
Italian autocosciente
- autocoscienteaware of oneself as an individual being
Japanese 自己意識, 自己意識
- 自己意識 (jiko ishiki)aware of oneself as an individual being
- 自己意識 (jiko ishiki)uncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
Norwegian Bokmål selvbevisst, selvbevisst
- selvbevisstaware of oneself as an individual being
- selvbevisstuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- hemmetuncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
Polish samoświadomy, zakompleksiony
- samoświadomyaware of oneself as an individual being
- zakompleksionyexcessively conscious of one's appearance or behaviour
Portuguese autoconsciente
- autoconscienteaware of oneself as an individual being
Russian стеснительный, закомплексованный
- стеснительный (stesnitelnyi)aware of oneself as an individual being
- закомплексованный (zakompleksovannyi)excessively conscious of one's appearance or behaviour
Spanish autoconsciente, sentido del ridículo
- autoconscienteaware of oneself as an individual being
- sentido del ridículoaware of oneself as an individual being
- cohibidouncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
- insegurouncomfortably over-conscious of one's appearance or behaviour; socially ill at ease
Swedish självmedveten
- självmedvetenaware of oneself as an individual being
Cite this entry
APA
self-conscious. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-conscious
MLA
“self-conscious.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-conscious. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-conscious,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-conscious.
Source: self-conscious on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.