omphaloskeptic

UK/ˌɒm.fəl.əˈskɛp.tɪk//ˌɑːm.fəl.əˈskɛp.tɪk/

omphaloskeptic noun: one who contemplates or meditates upon one's navel; one who engages in omphaloscopy.

Noun

omphaloskeptic (plural omphaloskeptics)

One who contemplates or meditates upon one's navel; one who engages in omphaloscopy.
- The trouble with this book, however, is that he gazes so fixedly at himself that his own eyes dazzle a little. He is not an omphalosceptic. His gaze never turns downwards; it is kept obstinately at face-level.1956 January, Francis Wyndham, “A Beginning and Other Stories”, in London Magazine, archived from the original on 17 Mar 2008, page 85
- […]though you must admit that no omphaloskeptic, nay, not Plotinus, could have so utterly realized the Infinite as at moments one did to night.1970, Aldous Huxley, Letters of Aldous Huxley, Harper & Row, page 78

omphaloskeptic (not comparable)

Likely to, prone to, or engaged in contemplating or meditating upon one's navel.
- This approach has been referred to as an omphaloskeptic method of design, so called after the term omphaloskepsis used to describe the technique of meditation through contemplation of the navel (from the Greek "omphalos" for navel and "skepsis" for examination).1998, Louis C. Burmeister, Elements of Thermal-Fluid System Design, Prentice Hall, →ISBN, page 31

Omphalos is Greek for navel, whence also omphaloskeptic, one who dreams up bright ideas while gazing at (skepsis, a looking at) his navel.1980, John B. Bremner, Words on Words: A Dictionary for Writers and Others Who Care About Words, Columbia University Press, →ISBN, pages...
His coronation as the Grand Omphaloskeptic of the cinema was still more than a decade away.1998, Eddie Muller, Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 154:

plural	omphaloskeptics
alternative form	omphalosceptic

From Ancient Greek ὀμφαλός (omphalós, “navel”) + σκέψις (sképsis, “perception, reflection”).

What does omphaloskeptic mean?: Omphaloskeptic means one who contemplates or meditates upon one's navel; one who engages in omphaloscopy.
How do you use omphaloskeptic in a sentence?: Omphalos is Greek for navel, whence also omphaloskeptic, one who dreams up bright ideas while gazing at (skepsis, a looking at) his navel.
What part of speech is omphaloskeptic?: Omphaloskeptic can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce omphaloskeptic?: Omphaloskeptic is pronounced /ˌɒm.fəl.əˈskɛp.tɪk/ (UK).
What is the plural of omphaloskeptic?: The plural of omphaloskeptic is omphaloskeptics.

Adapted from Wiktionary: omphaloskeptic (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-omphaloskeptic.ogg.

Cite this entry: “omphaloskeptic.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/omphaloskeptic. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.