vain
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: vān
ipa: /veɪn/
homophone: vane
homophone: vein
rhymes: -eɪn
Forms: form: vainer
form: more vain
form: vainest
form: most vain
form: wayn
Etymology: From Middle English veyn, from Old French vain, from Latin vānus (“empty”).
Senses: examples: text: Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.
ref: 1959, Leo Rosten, The return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N:
synonyms: word: conceited
word: flatulent
word: puffed up
word: inflated
word: airy
word: arrogant
word: authoritarian
word: biggity
word: big-headed
word: blustery
word: boastful
word: bombastic
word: buggish
word: cocky
word: conceited
word: disdainful
word: domineering
word: egotistical
word: entitled
word: flatulent
word: flaunting
word: full of oneself
word: grandiose
word: hankty
word: haught
word: haughty
word: haut
word: high-handed
word: high-hat
word: high and mighty
word: highfalutin
word: hoity-toity
word: holier-than-thou
word: imperious
word: inflated
word: insolent
word: la-di-da
word: ostentatious
word: overbearing
word: overweening
word: pompous
word: presumptuous
word: pretentious
word: priggish
word: puffed up
word: sanctimonious
word: self-important
word: snobbish
word: snooty
word: snotty
word: stout
word: stuck up
word: supercilious
word: thrasonic
word: thrasonical
word: toploftical
word: toplofty
word: tumid
word: turgid
word: uppish
word: uppity
word: uppy
word: upstage
word: vain
glosses: Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
examples: text: I will not hear thy vain excuse
ref: c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
text: Let no man deceive you with vain words.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ephesians 5:6:
text: Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: idle
word: base
word: contemptible
word: foolish
word: for the birds
word: futile
word: frivolous
word: idle
word: ignorable
word: immaterial
word: inconsequential
word: inconsiderable
word: indifferent
word: insignificant
word: like a fart in a windstorm
word: meager
word: mean
word: minor
word: negligible
word: nothingburger
word: nondescript
word: paltry
word: petty
word: picayune
word: picayunish
word: piddling
word: piddly
word: pissant
word: pitiful
word: pointless
word: silly
word: simple
word: slight
word: tin-pot
word: trifling
word: trivial
word: two-bit
word: unimportant
word: unweighty
word: vain
word: worthless
word: wretched
glosses: Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
examples: text: vain toil    a vain attempt
text: Vain is the force of man / To crush the pillars which the pile sustain.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: At our old pastimes in the hall
⁠We gambol’d, making vain pretence
⁠Of gladness, with an awful sense
Of one mute Shadow watching all.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXX”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 48:
text: But Sophia's mother was not the woman to brook defiance. After a few moments' vain remonstrance her husband complied. His manner and appearance were suggestive of a satiated sea-lion.
ref: 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 6, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: pointless
word: futile
word: fruitless
word: ineffectual
word: bootless
word: futile
word: fruitless
word: gainless
word: idle
word: inane
word: ineffectual
word: inefficacious
word: inutile
word: pointless
word: profitless
word: purposeless
word: unavailing
word: unprofitable
word: unuseful
word: unutilizable
word: useless
word: vain
word: void
glosses: Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
examples: text: Yet ſhall (my Lord) your juſt, your noble Rules / Fill half the land with imitating Fools: / VVho random dravvings from your ſheets ſhall take, / And of one beauty many blunders make; / Load ſome vain Church with old Theatric State, / Turn Arcs of Triumph to a Garden-gate, […]
ref: 1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle 4”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 40, lines 25–30:
synonyms: word: brash
word: pizazzy
word: bedizened
word: blatant
word: blingish
word: brash
word: catchpenny
word: chichi
word: chintzy
word: crass
word: crude
word: flashy
word: flaunting
word: florid
word: flossy
word: froufrou
word: garish
word: gauche
word: gaudy
word: gay
word: glaring
word: gross
word: gussied up
word: hideous
word: kitschy
word: loud
word: meretricious
word: obtrusive
word: ostentatious
word: pizazzy
word: pretentious
word: ritzy
word: raffish
word: showy
word: snazzy
word: splendiferous
word: tacky
word: tasteless
word: tawdry
word: tinselly
word: too much
word: unbecoming
word: untasteful
word: vain
word: whorish
word: zesty
glosses: Showy; ostentatious.
Synonyms: word: conceited
word: narcissistic
word: self-adoring
word: self-admiring
word: self-obsessed
word: vain
word: vainglorious
Hypernyms: word: coxcombical
word: proud
word: self-absorbed
Derived terms: Richard of York gave battle in vain
take someone's name in vain
in vain
vainness
vainly
Related terms: word: vanity
word: one-dimensional
word: shallow
word: superficial
word: arrogance
word: beauty