Homophones
adj
Freq #28617
Meanings
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1
adj
contented to a fault with oneself or one's actions
We had become complacent after years of success.
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2
adj
Uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug.
He grew complacent as the years rolled on and the money rolled in.
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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
Word family
Forms
complacently
Derived forms
complacentlycomplacentryovercomplacentself-complacentuncomplacent
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.