hubris

noun

hu·​bris ˈhyü-brəs 

: exaggerated pride or self-confidence

hubristic

hyü-ˈbri-stik 

adjective

Did you know?

Hubris Comes From Ancient Greece

English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of their mortality.

Examples of hubris in a Sentence

When conceived it was a project of almost unimaginable boldness and foolhardiness, requiring great bravura, risking great hubris. —Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman, 1998

If you were born Somewhere, hubris would come easy. But if you are Nowhere's child, hubris is an import, pride a thing you decide to acquire. —Sarah Vowell, GQ, May 1998

… our belief in democracy regardless of local conditions amounts to cultural hubris. —Robert D. Kaplan, Atlantic, December 1997

His failure was brought on by his hubris.

Recent Examples on the Web

Though the American market proved more expensive and bureaucratic than some Chinese businesses expected, says Harvey, problems were also caused by the hubris of facility owners, some of whom found themselves in over their heads. —Joel Khalili, WIRED, 21 Oct. 2024

The hubris in refusing to change course in the face of mounting evidence will continue the suffering of ordinary North Koreans and likely drag the United States into nuclear war. —Christine Ahn, Chicago Tribune, 17 Oct. 2024

Other analysts, by contrast, argued that Riyadh’s move was, in fact, Biden’s fault: the predictable byproduct of the administration’s hubris in asking Saudi Arabia to put U.S. interests ahead of its own. —Karen E. Young, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2022

The Roman allegory — in which Cesar aspires to change his government while fulfilling his creative hubris, enjoying the perks of fickle celebrity — is both inexact and unoriginal. —Armond White, National Review, 4 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Greek hýbris "arrogance, abuse, violence, outrage," of uncertain origin

Note: A. Nikolaev ("Die Etymologie von altgriechischem ὕβρις," Glotta, 80. [2004], pp. 211-30) connects hýbris with Greek hḗbē "youth, vigor of youth, sexual maturity" (see hebephrenia) taken as descending from Indo-European *(H)i̯ēg^wh₂-eh₂; after a series of assumptions a derivative *Hi̯o/a(h₂)g^w-ri- becomes *hog^wri-, which by Cowgill's Law (*o > *u between a resonant and a labial consonant) results in hýbris. On the semantic side Nikolaev has to assume that hýbris originally meant something like "physical strength," with no negative connotation; this he attempts to demonstrate in passages from Homeric epic and Hesiod. Nikolaev's etymology is roundly rejected by R. Beekes (Etymological Dictionary of Greek, Brill, 2009). Older etymologies proposing that hy- represents a prefix approximately equivalent to epi- "on, upon" are now generally in disfavor.

First Known Use

1884, in the meaning defined above

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