complacent

C2 Topic:Art & Music
US /kəmˈpleɪsənt/
adj Freq #28617

Meanings

  1. 1
    adj

    contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions

    We had become complacent after years of success.

  2. 2
    adj

    Uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug.

    He grew complacent as the years rolled on and the money rolled in.

  3. 3
    adj

    Unduly unworried or apathetic with regard to a need or problem.

    He tried to paint his audience as complacent, yelling that if they weren't mad as hell then they weren't paying enough attention.

Thesaurus

Synonyms
1 adj · contented to a fault with... self-complacentself-satisfied
More placidsmug
Word family
Forms complacently
Derived forms complacentlycomplacentryovercomplacentself-complacentuncomplacent
Related forms complacencecomplacency

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin complacēns (“very pleasing”), present participle of complacēre (“to please at the same time, be very pleasing”), from com- (“together”) + placēre (“to please”); see please and compare complaisant.

Topics

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