Word.ws English Dictionary

vainer

vainer is the comparative form of vain.

Meaning of vain

Adjective

vain (comparative vainer or more vain, superlative vainest or most vain)

  1. 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
  2. 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...
  3. Effecting no purpose; pointless, futile.
    • vain toil a vain attempt
  4. 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

See all 5 meanings of vain

Questions about vainer

What is vainer the comparative form of?
Vainer is the comparative form of vain.

Words near vainer in the dictionary

  1. vails
  2. vain
  3. Vainakh
  4. Vainakhia
  5. Vainakhian
  6. vainer
  7. vainesse
  8. vainest
  9. vainful
  10. vaingloried
  11. vainglories

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.