What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Cocksure vs Cocky - What's the difference?

cocksure | cocky |

As adjectives the difference between cocksure and cocky

is that cocksure is too confident; overconfident while cocky is overly confident, arrogant and boastful.

As a noun cocky is

abbreviation of cockatoo; used when pretending to talk to such a bird, as in "hello cocky".

cocksure

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (informal) too confident; overconfident
    • I thought myself cocksure of the horse which he readily promised me. — Alexander Pope.
  • * 1906 , John Galsworthy,
    • The persistence of the Past is one of those tragicomic blessings which each new age denies, coming cocksure on to the stage to mouth its claim to a perfect novelty.
  • *1920 , Sinclair Lewis, The Main Street ,
  • *:These crack specialists, the young scientific fellows, they're so cocksure and so wrapped up in their laboratories that they miss the human element.

    • cocky

    English

    Etymology 1

    From .

    Noun

    (cockies)
  • Abbreviation of cockatoo; used when pretending to talk to such a bird, as in "hello cocky" .
  • * 2005 August 5, The World Today: Town seeks environmental accreditation , radio programme, transcript,
    • Visit the local store at Coles Bay and you?re greeted by a talking cocky called Jim.
  • (Australia, New Zealand, colloquial) A cockatoo farmer.
  • * 1907 , , Human Toll , Gutenberg Australia eBook #0607531,
    • ‘We camped one evening at Narrangidgery Creek, close b? a cocky ?s ?umstead.’
  • * 1946 , , My Career Goes Bung , Gutenberg Australia eBook #0900281,
    • Burrawong was one of the larger stations in which much of the good land of the district was locked. The cockies usually had to follow the main road, but since the drought the owners had opened one of their permanent water-holes so that the poorer settlers could cart water to their homesteads.
  • * 2001 November 19, Shelley Horton, Media Dimensions: Episode 15 , TV programme, transcript,
    • And stories in the bush may not seem relevant in the big smoke, but try telling that to a cocky .
  • * 2010 , Jackie French, A Waltz for Matilda , unnumbered page,
    • Now — well, Moura was scarcely Drinkwater, but it was more than just a cocky farm too.
  • (New Zealand, informal) A sheep farmer.
    • Usage notes
    * (farmer) In both Australia and New Zealand, forms such as sheep cocky'' (sheep farmer) and ''cow cocky'' (dairy farmer) exist. In New Zealand, ''cocky'' is often synonymous with ''sheep cocky , due to the relative importance of the industry.
    Synonyms
    * (bird) birdie * (farmer) crofter; see also farmer
    Derived terms
    (farmer) boss cocky, cocky's joy

    Etymology 2

    From .

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Overly confident, arrogant and boastful.
  • * 1881 November 29, Sir Ernest Mason Satow, Letter to William George Aston'', 2008, Sir Ernest Mason Satow, Ian Ruxton (editor), ''Sir Ernest Satow's Private Letters to W.G. Aston and F.V. Dickins: The Correspondence of a Pioneer Japanologist from 1870 to 1918 , page 66,
    • Hodges has made a great fool of himself, by getting gradually cockier' and ' cockier .
  • * 2008 , Gerard Thomas, Nightwarrior Chronicles: All Girls? Team , page 85,
    • The confidence that was temporarily humbled now returned with a cockier attitude.
  • * 2011 , Melanie Harvey, Indispensable Friendship & Death Collide , page 204,
    • You smiling your oh-so-perfect smile and me with the biggest, cockiest' grin on my face you can ever imagine. I would have been the ' cockiest man alive that night knowing you were going home with me.
    Synonyms
    * See also