Smug vs Complacency - What's the difference?
smug | complacency |
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
A feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble.
*
* Addison
An instance of self-satisfaction.
As an adjective smug
is irritatingly pleased with oneself; self-satisfied.As a verb smug
is (obsolete|transitive) to make smug, or spruce.As a noun complacency is
a feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble.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
* *complacency
English
Alternative forms
* complacenceNoun
(complacencies)- There was something pathetic in his concentration as if his complacency , more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more. When, almost immediately, the telephone rang inside and the butler left the porch Daisy seized upon the momentary interruption and leaned toward me.
- Others proclaim the infirmities of a great man with satisfaction and complacency , if they discover none of the like in themselves.
