complacent

English

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.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəmˈpleɪsənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Homophone: complaisant

Adjective

complacent (comparative more complacent, superlative most complacent)

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

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

   • 2021 June 29, Phil McNulty, “England 2-0 Germany”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     England will feel confident but not complacent against Ukraine, and the shock exit of France to Switzerland shows no-one can be taken lightly.

4. Unduly unworried or apathetic with regard to an apparent 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.

Usage notes

• Complacent should not be confused with its homophone, complaisant.

Synonyms

• smug
• self-satisfied

Derived terms

• complacently
• self-complacent

Related terms

• complacence
• complacency

Translations

uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements

• Catalan: complaent (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 得意 (zh) (déyì), 自滿／自满 (zh) (zìmǎn)

• Czech: samolibý (cs)
• Dutch: zelfgenoegzaam (nl), makkelijk (nl), zelftevreden, zelfingenomen (nl)
• Esperanto: memkontenta
• Finnish: itsetyytyväinen (fi), omahyväinen (fi)
• French: suffisant (fr)
• German: selbstgefällig (de), selbstzufrieden
• Greek: αυτάρεσκος (el) m (aftáreskos)
• Hungarian: önelégült (hu), öntelt (hu)
• Japanese: 独り善がり (ja) (ひとりよがり, hitori-yogari)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: kiriora
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: selvtilfreds

• Occitan: complasent (oc)
• Plautdietsch: eendoontich
• Portuguese: complacente (pt)
• Russian: самодово́льный (ru) (samodovólʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: somalta
• Serbo-Croatian: samozadovoljan (sh) m
• Slovene: samozadovoljen
• Spanish: autocomplaciente (es)
• Swedish: självbelåten (sv), självgod (sv), egenkär (sv)
• Ukrainian: самозадово́лений (samozadovólenyj), самовдово́лений (samovdovólenyj)

Further reading

• “complacent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “complacent”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Latin

Verb

complacent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of complaceō