smug

English

Etymology

From Middle Low German smuk (“neat, trim, spruce, elegant, fair”), from Middle High German gesmuc (“ornament”), from smücken (“to ornament, adorn, originally to dress”), a secondary form of Middle High German smiegen (“to creep into, hence to put on (a garment)”); see smock.

Pronunciation

• enPR: smŭg, IPA^(key): /smʌɡ/
• Rhymes: -ʌɡ

Adjective

smug (comparative smugger, superlative smuggest)

1. Irritatingly pleased with oneself; self-satisfied.

   Kate looked extremely smug this morning.

2. (obsolete) Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.
   • Robynson (More's Utopia)

     They be so smug and smooth.

   • De Quincey

     the smug and scanty draperies of his style

   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     A young, smug, handsome holiness has no fellow.

Synonyms

• self-satisfied
• complacent

Derived terms

• smugly
• smugness

Translations

irritatingly pleased with oneself; self-satisfied

• Catalan: ufà, petulant
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: nafoukaný
• Dutch: zelfingenomen
• Finnish: omahyväinen, itseriittoinen (fi), itsetyytyväinen
• French: suffisant (fr)
• Georgian: თვითკმაყოფილი (t’vit’kmaqop’ili)
• German: blasiert (de), eingebildet (de), selbstgefällig, süffisant (de)
• Greek: αυτάρεσκος (el) (aftáreskos)
• Hebrew: please add this translation if you can

• Hungarian: önelégült (hu)
• Italian: compiaciuto m, autocompiaciuto m
• Japanese: 独り善がり (ひとりよがり, hitoriyogari)
• Norwegian: selvgod
• Portuguese: presunçoso (pt), convencido (pt)
• Punjabi: ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਸਤ, ਮਨਮੌਜੀ
• Russian: самодовольный (ru) (samodovólʹnyj)
• Slovak: nafúkaný
• Spanish: ufano (es), engreído (es), petulante (es), creído (es)
• Swedish: självgod, självbelåten

Verb

smug (third-person singular simple present smugs, present participle smugging, simple past and past participle smugged)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To make smug, or spruce.
   • Dryton

     Thus said, he smugged his beard, and stroked up fair.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

External links

• smug in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• smug in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• gums
• mugs