Meaning & use
complacently
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Meaning
adverbnot comparabledisapproving
In a way that shows smug satisfaction with yourself or your situation, without noticing possible danger or need to improve.
Grammar: Describes how someone acts or looks: she smiled complacently.
Patterns
- smile complacently
- sit complacently
- assume complacently that something
He leaned back complacently, certain that nobody could beat his record.
The team complacently assumed that victory was guaranteed.
She nodded complacently while the warnings were read out.
Common combinations
- smile complacently
- The champion smiled complacently at the cameras.
- sit back complacently
- You cannot sit back complacently and hope the problem solves itself.
- assume complacently
- Many residents complacently assumed the river would never flood.
- accept complacently
- The board complacently accepted the rosy forecast.
- watch complacently
- Rivals watched complacently as the market changed.
Synonyms and how they differ
- smugly
- Smugly stresses showing off a pleased attitude, while complacently stresses ignoring risk.
- self-satisfiedly
- This is a rarer word that focuses on contentment with oneself and carries less sense of danger.
- placidly
- Placidly means calmly and peacefully and is not criticism, so it lacks the blame that complacently carries.
- contentedly
- Contentedly is positive and merely happy, whereas complacently implies a risky lack of concern.
Opposites
Word family
- complacent adjective
- too satisfied to see a need for effort or caution
- complacency noun
- uncritical satisfaction with the current state of things
- complacence noun
- a less common variant of complacency
Commonly confused: complacently or complaisantly? complacently or compliantly?
complacently vs complaisantly
Complaisantly means in an eager-to-please, agreeable way, not smugly; it is a different word, though the two look alike.
complacently vs compliantly
Compliantly means in obedient agreement with rules or requests and has no sense of smugness.
Practice
The company ___ ignored the new competitor, and its sales fell sharply the next year.
Choose one answer.
Complacently fits because it describes careless over-confidence that leads to trouble. The other adverbs would suggest the company reacted to the threat.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “complacently”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.