vanity

noun, plural van·i·ties.

1. excessive pride in one’s appearance, qualities, abilities, achievements, etc.; character or quality of being vain; conceit: Failure to be elected was a great blow to his vanity.
2. an instance or display of this quality or feeling.
3. something about which one is vain or excessively proud: His good looks are his greatest vanity.
4. lack of real value; hollowness; worthlessness: the vanity of a selfish life.
5. something worthless, trivial, or pointless.
6. vanity case.
7. dressing table.
8. a wide, counterlike shelf containing a wash basin, as in the bathroom of a hotel or residence, often equipped with shelves, drawers, etc., underneath.
9. a cabinet built below or around a bathroom sink, primarily to hide exposed pipes.
10. compact¹(def 13).

adjective

11. produced as a showcase for one’s own talents, especially as a writer, actor, singer, or composer: surprisingly entertaining for a vanity production.
12. of, relating to, or issued by a vanity press: a spate of vanity books.

noun plural -ties

1. the state or quality of being vain; excessive pride or conceit
2. ostentation occasioned by ambition or pride
3. an instance of being vain or something about which one is vain
4. the state or quality of being valueless, futile, or unreal
5. something that is worthless or useless
6. NZ short for vanity unit

n.

early 13c., “that which is vain, futile, or worthless,” from Old French vanite, from Latin vanitatem (nominative vanitas) “emptiness, foolish pride,” from vanus “empty, vain, idle” (see vain). Meaning “self-conceited” is attested from mid-14c. Vanity table is attested from 1936. Vanity Fair is from “Pilgrim’s Progress” (1678).