self-esteem.

A person’s sense of their own value or worth.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• stable self-esteem
• low self-esteem

On the page

The failure challenged her self-esteem more than her confidence in the method.

His self-esteem became less dependent on public praise as he recognized the value of private effort.

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.