Wiktionary

vanity

English

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Etymology

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A vanity (dressing table; sense 3).
 
A bathroom vanity (sense 4).

From va(i)n +‎ -ity, from Middle English vanite, from Old French vanité, from Latin vānitas, from vānus, whence English vain. Doublet of vanitas.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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vanity (countable and uncountable, plural vanities)

  1. That which is vain, futile, or worthless; that which is of no value, use or profit.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ecclesiastes 2:15–16:
      Then I said in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me and why then was I more wise? Then I said in my heart that this is also vanity. / For there is no more remembrance of the wise than the fool forever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
  3. Excessive pride in or admiration of one's own abilities, appearance, achievements, or possessions.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A Project”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 224:
      To make a man in love with you gives an instant hold on his vanity; and with that, you can do any thing. Vanity is the real lever with which Archimedes said he could move the earth; so, try what you can effect with Sir Robert.
    • 1981, Ashford & Simpson, “It Shows In the Eyes”, in Performance:
      Try to second guess what people see / All the time it's just your vanity / No one's impressed and you wonder why / Well it is, it shows in the eyes
    • 2024 November 29, Joshua Stylman, How Engineered Dependency Erases Our Autonomy‎[1]:
      Social media hasn’t just weaponized our vanity—it’s transformed us from humans into curated digital performances. Our phones have become portable propaganda machines for our personal brands.
  4. A dressing table used to apply makeup, preen, and coif hair, in which the table is normally quite low and similar to a desk.
  5. A washbasin installed into a permanently fixed storage unit, used as an item of bathroom furniture.
  6. (obsolete) Any idea, theory or statement that is without foundation.
    It is a vanity to say that if two stones are dropped from a tower, the heavier will experience the greater acceleration.
    • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
      To help the matter, the alchemists call in likewise many vanities out of astrology.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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