vanity
Pluralvanities (some meanings)
- 1Self-admiration carried too far, whether over one's appearance, abilities, accomplishments, or possessions.
The salesman flattered the old man's vanity until he signed for the most expensive car on the lot.
Vanity kept him from admitting that he needed reading glasses.
UsageCommon with flatter, wound and play on: flatter someone's vanity. Unlike pride, it is not used as praise.
Similarconceit, pride, egotism, narcissism, self-importance
Note
Letitia Elizabeth Landon's Ethel Churchill (1837) calls vanity “the real lever” Archimedes spoke of, and Joshua Stylman, writing in 2024, says social media has “weaponized our vanity.”
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Letitia Elizabeth Landon wrote Ethel Churchill. en.wikisource.org
- Ethel Churchill was first published in 1837. en.wikisource.org
- The novel calls vanity “the real lever” associated with Archimedes; the speaker is Henrietta, Lady Marchmont. en.wikisource.org
- Joshua Stylman wrote in 2024 that social media had “weaponized our vanity.” stylman.substack.com
- 2A piece of bathroom furniture in which a washbasin is built into a permanently fixed storage unit.
The contractor tore out the old pedestal sink and installed a double vanity with two faucets.
Spare towels and cleaning supplies are kept in the drawers of the bathroom vanity.
UsageOften bathroom vanity or double vanity.
- 3A dressing table used for putting on makeup, grooming oneself, and styling one's hair, usually fairly low and much like a desk.
Every morning she sat at her vanity, pinning her hair up in front of the mirror.
The antique vanity in the guest bedroom still has its velvet stool and a drawer full of old cosmetics.
UsageUsually sit at a vanity; also called a vanity table or dressing table.
Note
Where the furniture stands usually tells this vanity apart from the bathroom sink unit of the same name: one is sat at, the other washed at. Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half (2020) catches it in use, with a woman sitting in front of her vanity, brushing out her hair. The name sits comfortably beside the pride meaning, since this is where one preens.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Brit Bennett wrote The Vanishing Half, first published in 2020. en.wikipedia.org
- The novel describes a woman sitting in front of her vanity and brushing out her hair. en.wiktionary.org
- 4The quality of being futile, empty, or worthless; lack of real value, use, or purpose.
The general's memoir dwells on the vanity of a war in which thousands died for a few miles of mud.
The preacher reminded the mourners of the vanity of storing up riches that no one can carry beyond the grave.
UsageUsually the vanity of + a thing or pursuit: the vanity of riches, the vanity of war.
Similarfutility, pointlessness, emptiness, worthlessness, uselessness
Note
Latin vānus gave English both vain and, through vānitas, this noun, and here the noun means what vain means in “in vain”: to no purpose. The Holy Bible of 1611 sees the wise and the fool forgotten alike and calls it vanity.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- This meaning of vanity corresponds to the futility expressed by in vain. en.wiktionary.org
- The cited English Bible was first published in 1611. commons.wikimedia.org
- The biblical passage says that the wise and the fool will alike be forgotten. en.wikisource.org
- The passage calls their shared fate vanity. en.wikisource.org
Less common meaning
- 5Any idea, theory, or statement that is groundless, with nothing to support it.
To help the matter, the alchemists call in likewise many vanities out of astrology.
1627, Francis [Bacon], Sylua SyluarumIt is a vanity to say that if two stones are dropped from a tower, the heavier will experience the greater acceleration.
Note
When Francis Bacon writes that the alchemists "call in likewise many vanities out of astrology," he means baseless notions, not conceits. The sense is obsolete, but it let a single unfounded theory be called a vanity, as in "it is a vanity to say that…" A modern reader would hear the pride meaning there, so outside historical writing, fallacy or groundless notion says the same thing without the misreading.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Francis Bacon wrote the quoted words about alchemists, with spelling modernized. alchemywebsite.com
- Bacon means unsupported notions in this passage. alchemywebsite.com
- The sense referring to an unsupported idea, theory, or statement is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
- The sense permits a single unsupported proposition to be called a vanity, including the illustrated construction. en.wiktionary.org
Practice
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Origin
Latin vānitas, built on vānus (the source of English vain), passed into Old French as vanité and into Middle English as vanite. The word can also be analyzed as vain plus -ity, and vanitas is a doublet.