Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
self-congratulation
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Bertha Cohen nodded, and Rev. Levitt smiled in self-congratulation.
▪ Both the rhetoric of self-congratulation and self-flagellation have missed out how much Britain has changed since 1945.
▪ Expect whoops of absurd self-congratulation if they do.
▪ We have heard 47 minutes of the most extraordinary self-congratulation and complacency that can have ever been heard.
▪ Yet it ought not to be long before some healthy doubts begin to disturb this mood of self-congratulation.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
self-congratulation
1630s, from self- + congratulation.
Wiktionary
self-congratulation
n. self-satisfied congratulation of oneself for one's achievements or situation
Usage examples of "self-congratulation".
Haydn, glad as he was to receive his reward, felt that he had little cause for self-congratulation at the results from a musicianly point of view.
I rewarded that upright fellow Rice Crispies with a low bow and sat down in a mood of quiet self-congratulation.
The walls displayed none of the showbusiness trappings of self-congratulation.