Smug vs Bossy - What's the difference?
smug | bossy |
Irritatingly pleased with oneself; self-satisfied.
(obsolete) Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.
* Robynson (More's Utopia)
* De Quincey
* Beaumont and Fletcher
(obsolete) To make smug, or spruce.
* Dryton
Tending to give orders to others, especially when unwarranted; domineering.
(US, informal, dated) A cow or calf.
* about 1900 , O. Henry,
As adjectives the difference between smug and bossy
is that smug is irritatingly pleased with oneself; self-satisfied while bossy is tending to give orders to others, especially when unwarranted; domineering.As a verb smug
is to make smug, or spruce.As a noun bossy is
a cow or calf.smug
English
Adjective
(smugger)- Kate looked extremely smug this morning.
- They be so smug and smooth.
- the smug and scanty draperies of his style
- A young, smug , handsome holiness has no fellow.
Synonyms
* self-satisfied * complacentDerived terms
* smugly * smugnessVerb
(smugg)- Thus said, he smugged his beard, and stroked up fair.
External links
* *Anagrams
* *bossy
English
Etymology 1
Adjective
(er)Synonyms
* dictatorial, authoritarian, commanding, tyrannical, demanding, inflexible * see alsoEtymology 2
Diminutive of dialectal English boss, as used in the term ).Noun
(bossies)- A week before, while riding the prairies, Raidler had come upon a sick and weakling calf deserted and bawling. Without dismounting he had reached and slung the distressed bossy across his saddle, and dropped it at the ranch for the boys to attend to.