imposter syndrome
/ɪmˈpɒstər ˈsɪndroʊm/
Very CommonThe persistent feeling that you don't deserve your success and will eventually be found out as a fraud.
Broadly used but has different weight depending on who's experiencing it. For people from underrepresented groups, it's often reinforced by real external messages that they don't belong. For others it can be more purely internal.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | got promoted and my first thought was 'when do they figure out they made a mistake'. imposter syndrome on sight | The immediate response to success is anxiety about being exposed rather than satisfaction. | x, 2024 |
| 02 | 5 years in. good reviews every year. still waiting for someone to walk in and fire me for being a fraud. imposter syndrome never left | The feeling persists despite sustained evidence of competence. | linkedin, 2024 |
| 03 | reminder that imposter syndrome hits hardest in rooms where you were never meant to be in the first place | The syndrome is intensified by being in spaces where your demographic is underrepresented. | tiktok, 2023 |
| 04 | i spent the first year attributing everything good to luck and everything bad to being bad at my job. therapist said imposter syndrome | Asymmetric attribution of success to luck and failure to self is a core imposter syndrome pattern. | reddit, 2023 |
Use it when
- Describing the feeling that you're not as competent as everyone thinks, despite evidence to the contrary.
- Someone can't internalize their achievements and attributes them to luck or other people.
- You're in a new role or a stretch assignment and the anxiety is specifically about being found out.
Do not use it when
- You're genuinely not qualified for the role you're in.
- You're talking about general anxiety or self-confidence issues unrelated to perceived fraudulence.
Origin and context
First described in 1978 by psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes in their research on high-achieving women who felt like intellectual frauds. The concept was originally named 'impostor phenomenon' and later became commonly known as imposter syndrome.
- First seen
- 1978
- Confidence
- high
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Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/imposter-syndromeUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0