complacent

Intermediatezipf 3.19

Pronunciation

/kəmˈpleɪsənt/(kum-PLAY-sunt)

Part of speech

adjectiveneutral

Chinese

自满的;安于现状的(因满意而不思进取)

Definition

Smugly satisfied with oneself or one's achievements, unaware of potential dangers.

Word family

  • complacency/kəmˈpleɪsənsi/(n)自满
  • complacently/kəmˈpleɪsəntli/(adv)自满地

Collocations

  • become complacent
  • complacent attitude
  • dangerous complacency
  • guard against complacency

Examples

  1. 1.Success can make people complacent, causing them to stop innovating. (too satisfied)
  2. 2.The team's complacency after their winning streak led to a shocking defeat. (noun: self-satisfaction)

Synonyms

  • self-satisfied/ˌsɛlf ˈsætɪsfaɪd/pleased with oneself
  • smug/smʌɡ/annoyingly pleased
  • unconcerned/ˌʌnkənˈsɜːnd/not worried

Etymology

from Latin "complacere" = to please — com- (with) + placere (to please) — too pleased with oneself