self-consciousness.

1. Uncomfortable or heightened awareness of oneself as noticed or judged by others.

2. Awareness of oneself as an experiencing or thinking subject.

3. An evident awareness of, or emphasis on, one’s own manner, form or presentation.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• social self-consciousness
• acute self-consciousness

On the page

Her self-consciousness intensified when the conversation turned to her recent speech.

The crowded room produced self-consciousness rather than fear of any particular person.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / character / human behavior. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: characterization, motivation, interpersonal behavior, self-evaluation. Disciplines: psychology, human behavior, character writing. Commonness: moderately common.