ego

/eego, ego/

  • noun (pl. egos) 1 a person’s sense of self-esteem or self-importance. 2 Psychoanalysis the part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for the interpretation of reality and the development of a sense of self. Compare with ID and SUPEREGO.

  — ORIGIN Latin, ‘I’.

Perform another search of the Compact Oxford English Dictionary

About this dictionary
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English contains 145,000 words, phrases, and definitions.
Find out more about Oxford's range of English dictionaries
Sign up for the AskOxford Word of the Day

Search the Little Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
Search the Concise Dictionary of First Names