DictionaryAI

vanity

noun
VAN-uh-tee/ˈvænəti/VAN-i-tee/ˈvænɪti/

Pluralvanities (some meanings)

5 meanings of vanity

Practice

  1. 1
    too much pridenoununcountable
    Too much pride in yourself, such as in your looks, skills, successes, or the things you own.

    Her vanity made her stop to check her hair in every store window she passed.

    He bought the expensive watch out of pure vanity, not because he needed it.

    UsageOften flatter someone's vanity.

    Similarconceit, pride, egotism, narcissism, self-importance

    Oppositemodesty, humility

    Note
  2. 2
    sink cabinetnouncountable
    A bathroom sink built into a cabinet that is fixed in place and used for storage.

    We bought a new vanity with a white sink for the small bathroom.

    She keeps extra toilet paper in the vanity under the sink.

    UsageOften bathroom vanity.

  3. 3
    dressing tablenouncountable
    A table, usually low and like a desk, used for doing your makeup and hair and making yourself look nice.

    My sister spends twenty minutes at her vanity doing her makeup before school.

    Grandma kept her lipsticks and hairbrushes on the old wooden vanity in her bedroom.

    UsageYou sit at a vanity.

    Note
  4. 4
    no real valuenoununcountable
    The quality of being empty and useless, with no real value or purpose.

    After ten years of fighting with his neighbor over a small fence, he finally saw the vanity of it all.

    The song is about the vanity of working all your life for money you never get to enjoy.

    UsageOften the vanity of something.

    Similarfutility, pointlessness, emptiness, worthlessness, uselessness

    Oppositeworth, value

    Note

Less common meaning

  1. 5
    baseless ideanounobsoletecountable
    An idea, theory, or claim that has nothing real to support it.
    To help the matter, the alchemists call in likewise many vanities out of astrology.
    1627, Francis [Bacon], Sylua SyluarumHere, vanities means ideas with nothing to support them.
    It is a vanity to say that if two stones are dropped from a tower, the heavier will experience the greater acceleration.
    Note

Practice

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Origin

It came into English through French from the Latin word vānitas. That word comes from vānus, which also gave us the English word vain.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts