vainer
vainer is the comparative form of vain.
Meaning of vain
Adjective
vain (comparative vainer or more vain, superlative vainest or most vain)
- Overly proud of oneself, especially concerning appearance; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason.
- Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.1959, Leo Rosten, The return of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N
- Synonyms:
- conceited, flatulent, puffed up, inflated, airy, arrogant, chesty, authoritarian, biggity, big-headed
- Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
- I will not hear thy vain excusec. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- Synonyms:
- idle, valueless, base, contemptible, floccinaucinihilipilificatious, foolish, for the birds, futile, frivolous, ignorable
- Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
- vain toil a vain attempt
- Showy; ostentatious.
- Yet ſhall (my Lord) your juſt, your noble Rules / Fill half the land with imitating Fools: / VVho random dravvings from your ſheets ſhall take, / And of one beauty many blunders make; / Load ſome vain Church with old Theatric State, / Turn Arcs of Triumph to a Garden-gate, […]1735, Alexander Pope, “Epistle 4”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 40, lines 25–30
Questions about vainer
- What is vainer the comparative form of?
- Vainer is the comparative form of vain.
Words near vainer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: vainer (page history and authors); vain (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: “vainer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/vainer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
