Generally speaking, grandiosity is the defining symptom of narcissistic personality disorder.

If the term grandiosity calls to mind “grand,” you’re not far from the mark.

People with narcissistic personality disorder tend to consider themselves grand, important, and better than others.

Grandiose behavior, which helps establish this sense of personal importance, might involve:

• bragging about personal achievements and skills
• exaggerating or lying about past accomplishments
• devaluing or criticizing others
• anger or rage when achievements go unrecognized
• regularly describing personal attributes, such as intelligence, power, strength, wealth, and attractiveness or sex appeal

If you have the characteristics of a narcissist, you might expect people to recognize you as superior and feel confused or frustrated when they don’t acknowledge your accomplishments.

When others achieve something admirable, you might feel the need to challenge them. For example, you would point out where they went wrong or how they could have done better.

When it comes to covert narcissism, grandiose behavior often goes unrecognized. This is because instead of openly boasting or describing themselves as superior, covert narcissists might dwell on these achievements internally. They would also spend a lot of time fantasizing about their own importance versus talking about it.