What's the difference between conceit and vain?

Conceit


Definition:

  • (n.) That which is conceived, imagined, or formed in the mind; idea; thought; image; conception.
  • (n.) Faculty of conceiving ideas; mental faculty; apprehension; as, a man of quick conceit.
  • (n.) Quickness of apprehension; active imagination; lively fancy.
  • (n.) A fanciful, odd, or extravagant notion; a quant fancy; an unnatural or affected conception; a witty thought or turn of expression; a fanciful device; a whim; a quip.
  • (n.) An overweening idea of one's self; vanity.
  • (n.) Design; pattern.
  • (v. t.) To conceive; to imagine.
  • (v. i.) To form an idea; to think.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) No wry observations or whoops-a-daisy trombones to subvert the conceit for period lolz.
  • (2) Even a successful fiction writer would be unlikely to attempt to pull off an absurd conceit whereby the self-styled “greenest-ever” government hands out subsidies to the most heavily polluting companies just as it prepares to approve a global climate change treaty.
  • (3) In their new show , the trio Sheeps (which includes recent Foster’s award nominee Liam Williams ) perform the same sketch over and over, for an hour, in a variety of styles – the conceit being that they’re never satisfied it works.
  • (4) "That's why we developed Call of Duty Elite – the design conceit was, wouldn't it be great if we could unlock the game as a more social experience.
  • (5) He denies Southcliffe's central conceit is exploitative.
  • (6) He is far too astute an analyst of comedy to be unaware of the danger of looking smug and there were sufficient layers of irony and knowing jokes within jokes for the conceit to work.
  • (7) As those familiar with my novels know (especially Ulverton and Hodd ), I've always believed in the modernity of the past, from which our temporal conceit blinkers us.
  • (8) Then Smith ruins my conceit by grounding to Prince Fielder.
  • (9) Their music has long been free of such unnecessary clutter as metaphor, allegory, and poetic conceit.
  • (10) If he had been able to cross gorges and rivers without the need for ancient Egyptian conceits or even unadorned iron trusses, I think he would have leaped at the chance.
  • (11) So, this print version is more in name – a conceit, a promotion – than it is an actual business strategy.
  • (12) In 2014, RZA told Forbes that the conceit behind the album was in part motivated by a desire to restore a cash value to music in the age of streaming and internet piracy.
  • (13) It’s a fun conceit.” Just because Baker Street Irregulars members don’t emphasize costumes and cosplay, they still respect their fellow fandoms – there is even a Klingon edition of Sherlock Holmes.
  • (14) I like the conceit but I don't buy the translation: animals have fur, women wear furs, surely).
  • (15) Men's concerns, interests, anxieties or even pride in our own gender roles are typically sheltered by the conceits of fiction – as seen in the exquisite 62-hour thesis on modern masculinity that was Breaking Bad – or filtered through protective layers of irony and humour.Social media users recently parodied the internal travails of feminism with the hashtag #MeninistTwitter, but behind the walls of laddish banter and sexism, there were some very real anxieties and resentments on display.
  • (16) The vox pop – that spurious journalistic conceit – lets reporters seek out quotes to confirm each one's opinions (or for the BBC, just a meaningless one of each).
  • (17) This is not the first time we have seen arrogance and conceit from Mr Mellor.
  • (18) "You could see the little girls, fat with complacency and conceit while the little boys sat there crumpled, apologising for their existence, thinking this was going to be the pattern of their lives."
  • (19) He was the opposite of an egotist, being neither boastful nor conceited, but his professional personality had a streak of the kindly egoist to it.
  • (20) The conceit was a lie founded on truth, and that four-year hole in his IMDb list, beginning not long after he won a Golden Globe for Walk The Line , is real.

Vain


Definition:

  • (superl.) Having no real substance, value, or importance; empty; void; worthless; unsatisfying.
  • (superl.) Destitute of forge or efficacy; effecting no purpose; fruitless; ineffectual; as, vain toil; a vain attempt.
  • (superl.) Proud of petty things, or of trifling attainments; having a high opinion of one's own accomplishments with slight reason; conceited; puffed up; inflated.
  • (superl.) Showy; ostentatious.
  • (n.) Vanity; emptiness; -- now used only in the phrase in vain.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) For example, if we purchase new examination equipment without any consideration or if we decide what type of equipment to introduce according to the common advice of the purchase committee of the hospital or the medical school, then we cannot design an ideal system of laboratory examinations and are forced to invest a large sum of money in vain.
  • (2) The George Bush campaign juggernaut hit the first serious pothole of its cash-fuelled drive to the presidency yesterday, as the Texas governor tried in vain to fend off questions about whether he had used cocaine as a young man.
  • (3) Full set list, show one (thanks to princevault.com ) Take Me With U (acoustic) Raspberry Beret (acoustic) U Got The Look (acoustic) Instrumental jam (acoustic) Train In Vain (acoustic) Q & A (1) incl.
  • (4) VaIN rarely is an isolated lesion and frequently is preceded by, or coexists with, other types of premalignant genital squamous neoplasia.
  • (5) He’s the kind of self-styled intellectual journalist in politics who caused so much trouble in 20th century politics, not a bad man, decent enough in his way, but not as smart as he thinks he is, vain with it.
  • (6) For long spells, West Ham searched in vain for inspiration as they tried to find a way past Newcastle United’s defence and end a run of three matches without a win.
  • (7) Further, in a vain attempt for a boost in the Hoosier State, Cruz unveiled former rival Carly Fiorina as his running mate if he receives the nomination and was able to cajole the state’s sitting governor, Mike Pence, into an endorsement.
  • (8) The next few days may well determine whether, this time, such loyalty will be in vain; but, while yearning for a clarion call and what was described as "vision" in this paper's leading article yesterday, I need to pose some pretty stark questions to Guardian readers.
  • (9) He aims to put his newspapers, including the Times and the Sun, behind a paywall, something described by the co-founder of Twitter, Biz Stone, as a vain attempt to "put the genie back in the bottle".
  • (10) In vain I argued that Robin Day seemed to wear the same jacket and shirt every week, and fled back to radio."
  • (11) Now I can feel that my son's blood wasn't totally lost in vain.
  • (12) In vain will Cameron plead that blame should lie with Brown and his Labour colleagues.
  • (13) At a media day held to mark the completion of the training and arranged before the tragedy, soldier after soldier came forward to insist that, though they were apprehensive, they were determined to do a good job, partly to make sure that their six colleagues had not died in vain.
  • (14) He somehow scrambled to deuce and delighted in forcing Dimitrov to chase in vain from one side of the court to the other to go 6-5 up.
  • (15) Assessment of patients between 9 and 99 (mean 55) months after partial colpectomy for VAIN showed no recurrence of disease in ten patients (83%).
  • (16) The scientific establishment struggled in vain to produce evidence that would reassure the public.
  • (17) No grieving wants to go through that, and our city doesn’t want to go through that.” Murphy said an accelerated program to equip Baltimore police officers with body cameras would mean Gray “did not die in vain”.
  • (18) His mother has said she tried in vain to get help for him.
  • (19) But he flailed in vain as the police officers grabbed him, one forcing his T-shirt roughly up over his head as three or four others laid in with their wooden batons, dragging and pushing him to a line of waiting Land Cruisers and more helmeted cops.
  • (20) As Steve spends half his money trying in vain to keep a scowl off Michelle's face and the rest comfort eating, Liz stumped up half the cash.