complacent

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin complacens (“very pleasing”), present participle of complacere (“to please at the same time, be very pleasing”), from com- (“together”) + placere (“to please”); see please and compare complaisant.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: complaisant

Adjective

complacent (comparative more complacent, superlative most complacent)

1. Uncritically satisfied with oneself or one's achievements; smug.
2. Apathetic with regard to an apparent need or problem.

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), 自满 (zh) (zìmǎn)

• Dutch: zelfgenoegzaam (nl), makkelijk (nl), zelftevreden, zelfingenomen (nl)
• Esperanto: memkontenta
• Finnish: omahyväinen (fi)
• French: suffisant (fr)
• German: selbstgefällig (de), selbstzufrieden
• Greek: αυτάρεσκος (el) m (aftáreskos)
• Hungarian: önelégült (hu), öntelt (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• Portuguese: complacente (pt)
• Russian: самодово́льный (ru) (samodovólʹnyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: somalta
• Serbo-Croatian: samozadovoljan (sh) m
• Swedish: självbelåten (sv), självgod (sv), egenkär (sv)

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.

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) complacent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of complaceō