conceit

noun

• 1excessive pride in oneself:he was puffed up with conceit

• 2a fanciful expression in writing or speech; an elaborate metaphor:the idea of the wind’s singing is a prime romantic conceit
• an artistic effect or device:the director’s brilliant conceit was to film this tale in black and white
• a fanciful notion:he is alarmed by the widespread conceit that he spent most of the 1980s drunk