superego means the part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards that have been learnt. It carries an Arena rating of 1625, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, superego ranks #49 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #2,004 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #2,447 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #4,339 of 17,138 for Most Incisive Words.
superego is pronounced /ˈsupɚˌiɡoʊ/.
Why “superego” is a great word
The part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting internalized social standards and parental authority. From super- (“over, above”) + ego (“I”), a calque of German Über-Ich, from über- (“over-”) + Ich (“ego, I”); coined in 1924 as a translation of Sigmund Freud’s term. Unlike “conscience,” a general moral sense, or the primal “id” driven by instinctual pleasure, the superego is a specific, often unconscious, arbiter born of internalized voices. It is the sudden flush of shame when no one is watching, the phantom weight of a disapproving gaze in an empty room, and the silent, rigid gaze of a childhood photograph—the internal tribunal that sentences us for crimes of thought only we can hear.
Etymology
From super + ego, from earlier form super-ego, calqued after German Über-Ich, from über- (“super-”) + Ich (“ego”), from the pronoun ich (“I”).
noun
- The part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards that have been learnt.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- superegoist 65% match — A highly egotistical and selfish person. vs superego →
- conscience 60% match — The ethical or moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects a person’s own behaviour and forms their attitude to their past actions. vs superego →
- conscious 57% match — Alert, awake; with one's mental faculties active. vs superego →
- foreconscious 53% match — In the psychology of Sigmund Freud, part of the mind that is available to the conscious if mentally summoned, contrasted with the unconscious, which is not directly accessible. vs superego →
- conscienced 52% match — Having a conscience (of a particular kind). vs superego →
- egosyntonic 51% match — Of a behaviour, value, or belief, in harmony with or acceptable to the needs and goals of the ego, or consistent with one’s ideal self-image. vs superego →
- consciencewise 51% match — In terms of one's conscience, or moral scruples. vs superego →
- pseudoconscience 49% match — A mindset or mental faculty that is mistaken for a conscience but lacks the truly ethical nature thereof. vs superego →