complacency
noun
Simple meaning
A feeling of contented self-satisfaction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhmplaysuhnseeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəmpˈleɪsənsi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble.
An instance of self-satisfaction.
Passivity as a result of contentment with the current situation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble.
Used this way, complacency is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use complacency
- “His complacency was absolutely disgusting.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The feeling you have when you are satisfied with yourself.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: feeling of contented self-satisfaction
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.