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Is there an adjective or adverb depicting self-promotion (or promotion of a group one belongs to)?

I am thinking of something that has a somewhat negative connotation, in the spirit of phrases

  • patting yourself on the back
  • shameless self-plug
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5 Answers

up vote 2 down vote accepted

A person who engages in shameless self-promotion is self-aggrandizing.

Merriam-Webster's pithy definition:

self-aggrandizing, adjective: acting or seeking to make oneself greater.

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This was my first thought. I was working on an answer suggesting it, but was researching further after this, **self-ag·gran·dize·ment** n.The act or practice of enhancing or exaggerating one's own importance, power, or reputation (thefreedictionary.com/self-aggrandizing) gave me pause. I wondered if self-promotion was necessarily enhancement or exaggeration, but found other definitions, such this, the action of promoting oneself as being powerful or important, which seem to make my hesitation moot. So, +1 for self-aggrandizing. – sarah Dec 5 '11 at 8:15
Yeah, I've second-guessed myself out of answering more than once. (Almost daily, come to think of it.) – Gnawme Dec 6 '11 at 0:39
up vote 1 down vote

Exhibitionism (noun) is behaviour to make people notice you and is usually used with a negative connotation.

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up vote 0 down vote

Several self-promotion verbs (pitch, tout, vaunt, pimp) can be used as adjectives when given -ed suffixes; for example:

I joined the much-touted club.

The meaning seems to be clear and correct; however, although much touted has seen some usage over the years, much-touted has not:much-touted The frequency of use of touted by itself is a few dozen times higher than that of much touted.

Also consider adjective ostentatious, which often refers to pretentious self-promotion intended to attract notice.

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You could just say "self-promoting." "That annoying, self-promoting behavior drives me nuts."

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up vote 0 down vote

'Brag blatantly' is something that you could use to depict such a self-promoting behavior. Besides, you could use the idiom 'blowing one's own trumpet' too.

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