ego
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alter ego
1. Another name or identity that one assumes. He's a clean-cut accountant during the week, but on the weekend he indulges in hedonistic pursuits as his alter ego "Jack."
2. A separate or different aspect or element of one's personality, identity, or psyche. For such a quiet woman, she has a rage and temper at times that is like some alter ego.
3. A close, inseparable friend of very similar attitudes and interests. My girlfriend and I are so similar, we are like each other's alter ego.
4. A person who acts as a substitute for or copy of another person; a doppelgänger. Due to his increasingly failing health, the dictator's son has been running the country for the past month, essentially as his alter ego.
ego trip
A display of superiority and self-centeredness. Are you on an ego trip? I'm not one of your lowly interns, so you can get your own coffee! The boss must have been on a real ego trip when he decided to name the building after himself.
ego-tripper
Someone who is apt to act in a superior and self-centered manner. Don't get coffee for that ego-tripper—you're not one of his lowly interns. The boss must be a real ego tripper—I mean, he named a building after himself!
stroke (one's) ego
To appeal to one's pride or vanity. You're not going to get what you want by stroking the boss's ego. If anything, that's a good way to get in trouble with her! I couldn't resist stroking my ego a bit by reading some of the good reviews for my latest film.
stroke someone's ego
Fig. to flatter and praise someone. If you have trouble with him, just take a few minutes and stroke his ego. You'll soon have him eating out of your hand.
ego trip
Behavior or activities undertaken mainly out of vanity or for self-gratification. For example, She's really on an ego trip, trying out for the lead. [1960s]
ego trip
n. a public expression of one’s feelings of importance or superiority. The guy is on another ego trip. Pay no attention.
ego tripper
n. a person who habitually goes on an ego trip. Not another ego tripper running for public office!
ego trip
A display of self-importance, a vehicle for self-satisfaction: for example, “These annual art shows of hers are simply an ego trip; she has no talent whatsoever.” This pejorative term dates from the second half of the 1900s. It brands someone as an egotist, which Ambrose Bierce defined as “A person of low taste, more interested in himself than in me” (The Devil’s Dictionary, 1911).