self-delusion.

A mistaken belief about yourself or your situation that you come to accept as true.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• comfortable self-delusion
• an exercise in self-delusion

On the page

Calling the retreat a tactical victory became an exercise in self-delusion.

Usage notes

Primary category: psychology / human behavior. Forms: Usually uncountable for the condition; particular false belief singular self-delusion, plural self-delusions. 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: character, interpretation. Commonness: moderately common.