self-aggrandizement

From self- +‎ aggrandizement.

self-aggrandizement (countable and uncountable, plural self-aggrandizements)

1. Behaviour which increases one's own wealth or power, or which is intended to create an appearance of importance.
   • 1906, Anna Katharine Green, chapter 29, in The Chief Legatee:

     [W]hat can selfish greed, what can self-aggrandizement and the most pitiless ambition effect against men who own to such discipline as this?

   • 1907 September, Jack London, “A Day’s Lodging”, in Love of Life and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., published December 1907, →OCLC, page 64:

     In your case, I fear, confession is exploitation by indirection, profit-making by ruse, self-aggrandizement at the expense of God.

   • 2001 February 25, Stacey D’Erasmo, “Here comes the neighborhood [review of Everyday People (2001) by Stewart O’Nan]”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC:

     As readers, we sense when the game is being played for real and when something else is afoot: pride, showmanship, the pursuit of power, self-aggrandizement, revenge, making money.

     (Can we archive this URL?)

• self-aggrandizing

• “self-aggrandizement”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.