illeism
Syllables: il·le·i·sm/ˈɪliːɪzəm/US/ˈɪliɪzəm/
illeism noun: the practice of (excessively) referring to oneself in the third person.
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Noun
illeism (countable and uncountable, plural illeisms)
- The practice of (excessively) referring to oneself in the third person.
- […] "[I]lleism with a difference" occurs when a character, speaking in the first person, refers to himself by name (not simply by a pronoun, which is illeism proper). [William] Sh[akespeare] makes significant use of the device in only four "middle plays." […] This sort of illeism enriches the...2002, Lewis Walker, comp., “General Works (Items 0067–1154)”, in Shakespeare and the Classical Tradition: An Annotated Bibliography 1961–1991, New York, N.Y.; London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 300
- In origin, the device of ‘illeism’ is a joint legacy to Elizabethan drama of the native English medieval stage tradition and of the Senecan translations, and one already used before [William] Shakespeare by [Thomas] Kyd, [George] Peele, and [Christopher] Marlowe. Also, this ‘illeism’ was a...2005, S. Viswanathan, “‘Illeism with a Difference’ in Certain Middle Plays”, in Exploring Shakespeare: The Dynamics of Playmaking, New Delhi: Orient Longman, →ISBN, page 5, footnote 12
illeism meaning in Malay and Indonesian
illeism in Malay
- practice of (excessively) referring to oneself in the third person
- illeisma
illeism in Indonesian
- practice of (excessively) referring to oneself in the third person
- ileisme
Examples of illeism in a sentence
- Also, this ‘illeism’ was a mannerism of the historical Julius Caesar as in evidence in his Commentaries; […]2005, S. Viswanathan, “‘Illeism with a Difference’ in Certain Middle Plays”, in Exploring Shakespeare: The Dynamics of Playmaking, New...
- [F]or some reason, illeism is especially attractive to professional sports players.2007, Anu Garg, “Words to Describe People: Insults”, in The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins...
- It seems likely that Isabella's 'how she treads the air' is the kind of illeism that Franciscus uses later in this scene at l[ine] 216: 'He handles him like a feather.2007, Douglas Bruster, “The Changeling [1653; by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley]”, in Gary Taylor, John Lavagnino, editors, Thomas...
Forms of illeism
| plural | illeisms |
|---|
Origin of illeism
From Latin ille (“that man; he”) + -ism, modelled on egoism.
Words formed from illeism
Questions about illeism
- What does illeism mean?
- Illeism means the practice of (excessively) referring to oneself in the third person.
- What is illeism in Malay?
- Illeism in Malay is illeisma. See Illeism meaning in Malay.
- How do you use illeism in a sentence?
- Also, this ‘illeism’ was a mannerism of the historical Julius Caesar as in evidence in his Commentaries; […]
- What part of speech is illeism?
- Illeism is a noun.
- How do you pronounce illeism?
- Illeism is pronounced /ˈɪliːɪzəm/ (UK).
- What is the plural of illeism?
- The plural of illeism is illeisms.
Words near illeism in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: illeism (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-illeism.wav.
Cite this entry: “illeism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/illeism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.