Meanings
nounself-esteem (usually uncountable, plural self-esteems)
plural self-esteems
- uncountableusuallyConfidence in one's own worth; self-respect.
People with high self-esteem think they're more popular, charming, and socially skilled than other people, but objective studies find no difference.
2011, Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney, Willpower, →ISBN, pages 191–1921 more example
American companies now put a great deal of effort into boosting their employees' self-esteem by handing out inflated job titles. Most likely, they think it also helps compensate for the longer hours, unpaid overtime and stagnant wages that have become standard. It doesn't.
2004, George Carlin, “EUPHEMISMS: What Do You Do for a Living?”, in When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?, New York: Hyperion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 90Synonyms: amour-propre
Synonyms & antonyms
nounConfidence in one's own worth; self-respect.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
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-
- Englishesteem
- Englishself-esteem
Translations
Arabic تَقْدِير ذَات
- تَقْدِير ذَات (taqdīr ḏāt)confidence in one's own worth
Bulgarian самоуваже́ние, самомнение
- самоуваже́ние (samouvažénie)confidence in one's own worth
- самомнение (samomnenie)confidence in one's own worth
Catalan autoestima
- autoestimaconfidence in one's own worth
Chinese Mandarin 自尊, 自尊心
- 自尊 (zìzūn)confidence in one's own worth
- 自尊心 (zìzūnxīn)confidence in one's own worth
Czech sebeúcta, hrdost
- sebeúctaconfidence in one's own worth
- hrdostconfidence in one's own worth
Danish selvværd
- selvværdconfidence in one's own worth
Dutch eigenwaarde, gevoel van eigenwaarde
- eigenwaardeconfidence in one's own worth
- gevoel van eigenwaardeconfidence in one's own worth
- zelfrespectconfidence in one's own worth
- zelfvertrouwenconfidence in one's own worth
Finnish itsetunto, itseluottamus
- itsetuntoconfidence in one's own worth
- itseluottamusconfidence in one's own worth
- itsekunnioitusconfidence in one's own worth
- omanarvontuntoconfidence in one's own worth
French amour-propre, estime de soi
- amour-propreconfidence in one's own worth
- estime de soiconfidence in one's own worth
- estime personnelleconfidence in one's own worth
German Selbstwertgefühl, Selbstachtung
- Selbstwertgefühlconfidence in one's own worth
- Selbstachtungconfidence in one's own worth
- Selbstwertschätzungconfidence in one's own worth
- Selbstrespektconfidence in one's own worth
Greek αυτοεκτίμηση
- αυτοεκτίμηση (aftoektímisi)confidence in one's own worth
Hindi आत्मगौरव
- आत्मगौरव (ātmagaurav)confidence in one's own worth
Hungarian önbecsülés
- önbecsülésconfidence in one's own worth
Irish féinmheas
- féinmheasconfidence in one's own worth
Italian autostima, compiacimento
- autostimaconfidence in one's own worth
- compiacimentoconfidence in one's own worth
Japanese 自尊, 自尊心
- 自尊 (jison)confidence in one's own worth
- 自尊心 (jisonshin)confidence in one's own worth
Māori kiritau
- kiritauconfidence in one's own worth
Norwegian Bokmål selvfølelse
- selvfølelseconfidence in one's own worth
Persian عزت نفس
- عزت نفس ('ezzat-e nafs)confidence in one's own worth
Polish poczucie własnej wartości
- poczucie własnej wartościconfidence in one's own worth
Portuguese autoestima, amor-próprio
- autoestimaconfidence in one's own worth
- amor-próprioconfidence in one's own worth
Romanian stimă de sine, autostimă
- stimă de sineconfidence in one's own worth
- autostimăconfidence in one's own worth
Russian самоуваже́ние, чу́вство со́бственного досто́инства
- самоуваже́ние (samouvažénije)confidence in one's own worth
- чу́вство со́бственного досто́инства (čúvstvo sóbstvennovo dostóinstva)confidence in one's own worth
- самолю́бие (samoljúbije)confidence in one's own worth
- самооце́нка (samoocénka)confidence in one's own worth
Spanish autoestima
- autoestimaconfidence in one's own worth
Swedish självkänsla
- självkänslaconfidence in one's own worth
Tamil தற்பெருமை
- தற்பெருமை (taṟperumai)confidence in one's own worth
Turkish haysiyet, izzetinefis
- haysiyetconfidence in one's own worth
- izzetinefisconfidence in one's own worth
- öz saygıconfidence in one's own worth
Ukrainian самопова́га, самолю́бство
- самопова́га (samopováha)confidence in one's own worth
- самолю́бство (samoljúbstvo)confidence in one's own worth
- самооці́нка (samoocínka)confidence in one's own worth
Welsh hunan-barch, hunan-dyb
- hunan-barchconfidence in one's own worth
- hunan-dybconfidence in one's own worth
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with self-esteem
teamstreamprimeseemdreamextremeschemesupremebeamsteamredeemregimeupstreamscreamesteemdownstreamseamdeemKariminseamneemhemeacademegleam
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
self-esteem. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-esteem
MLA
“self-esteem.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-esteem. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “self-esteem,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/self-esteem.
Source: self-esteem on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.