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Oct 15, 2014
This week's theme
Words from mythology

This week's words
odyssey
cimmerian
narcissist
atlas
charon

Narcissus spurning Echo and falling in love with himself
Narcissus spurning Echo and falling in love with himself
Art: John William Waterhouse

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

narcissist

PRONUNCIATION:
(NAHR-si-sist)

MEANING:
noun: Someone with excessive self-interest or self-love.

ETYMOLOGY:
In Greek mythology, Narcissus was a hunter and a young man of exceptional beauty. He spurned the nymph Echo. One day he saw his reflection in water and fell in love with himself. Not realizing it was himself and unable to leave, he eventually died. Earliest documented use: 1917.

USAGE:
"Dreyfus's vice-president is a narcissist who plays an important scene in a room filled with pictures of herself."
Jaime J. Weinman; Politics for Pretty People; Maclean's (Toronto, Canada); Jul 18, 2012.

See more usage examples of narcissist in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher (1844-1900)

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