The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural egos
The self, especially with a sense of self-importance. quotations examples
When every thought absorbs your attention completely, when you are so identified with the voice in your head and the emotions that accompany it that you lose yourself in every thought and every emotion, then you are totally identified with form and therefore in the grip of ego. Ego is a conglomeration of recurring thought forms and conditioned mental-emotional patterns that are invested with a sense of I, a sense of self.
1998, Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth
(psychology, Freudian) The most central part of the mind, which mediates with one's surroundings. quotations
In the well adjusted person the ego is the executive of the personality and is governed by the reality principle.
1954, Calvin S. Hall, A Primer of Freudian Psychology
‘Everything begins with “I”, you mean. Which is ego,’ said Tom, placing an ankle behind his ear, ‘not id.’
1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, London: Heinemann, page 19