delusion of adequacy
delusion of adequacy noun: the false belief that one is adequate; the belief that one is doing a competent job when one is actually incompetent.
Noun
delusion of adequacy (plural delusions of adequacy)
- The false belief that one is adequate; the belief that one is doing a competent job when one is actually incompetent.
- But compared to the jagged, snow-covered peaks in the distance, the mountains back east were mud hills with delusions of adequacy.2005, Paul Lucas, Linda A. Lavid, Creatura, page 146
- Whatever delusion of adequacy my admission to my father's alma mater had encouraged evaporated like morning dew, and I was left to panic before the stark, unblinking truth: I was an interloper.2015, Ginny Gilder, chapter 1, in Course Correction: A Story of Rowing and Resilience in the Wake of Title IX
Forms of delusion of adequacy
| plural | delusions of adequacy |
|---|
Origin of delusion of adequacy
Coined by American writer and Broadway theater critic Walter Kerr in 1951 in a review in New York Herald Tribune review of a Broadway play called Buy Me Blue Ribbons (in reference to star Jay Robinson). An ironic variation of delusion of grandeur.
Questions about delusion of adequacy
- What does delusion of adequacy mean?
- Delusion of adequacy means the false belief that one is adequate; the belief that one is doing a competent job when one is actually incompetent.
- What part of speech is delusion of adequacy?
- Delusion of adequacy is a noun.
- What is the plural of delusion of adequacy?
- The plural of delusion of adequacy is delusions of adequacy.
Words near delusion of adequacy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: delusion of adequacy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “delusion of adequacy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/delusion_of_adequacy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.