Sunday Word: Hubris

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hubris [hyoo-bris, hoo-bris]
noun:
1. Excessive pride or self-confidence; (in Greek tragedy) excessive pride towards or defiance of the gods, leading to nemesis.
2. wanton insolence or arrogance resulting from excessive pride or from passion

Examples:

When conceived it was a project of almost unimaginable boldness and foolhardiness, requiring great bravura, risking great hubris. (Simon Winchester, The Professor and the Madman)

Downes disparages this as hubris , "man too big for his boots." (Bill Morris, Rackstraw Downes's Art and Essays Are Two Sides of the Same Genius, 2004)

The three chief virtues of a programmer are: Laziness, Impatience and Hubris. (Larry Wall)

Origin:

1884, a back-formation from hubristic or else from Greek hybris "wanton violence, insolence, outrage," originally "presumption toward the gods." Spelling hybris is more classically correct and began to appear in English in translations of Nietzsche c. 1911.. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of his or her mortality. (Mirriam-Webster)