Are "egotistical" and "egocentric" synonyms?


Depending on where you look, people state that the words "egotistical" and "egocentric" are and are not synonymous.


There is certainly some overlap, but are the two words technically interchangeable?



Answer



Someone who is egotistical is egocentric; someone who is egocentric may or may not be egotistical.


Egocentric people think primarily of themselves; they are the center of their own worlds, and little else has relevance.


Egotistical people also think primarily of themselves, but have the additional tendency to think only good things about themselves.


Someone could be both egocentric and self-loathing, self-obsessed and self-despising; many people with clinical depression, for instance, can be described in just that way.


Being egotistical and self-loathing in the same moment, on the other hand, is harder to imagine, though someone could certainly vacillate between the two states.


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