Skip to main content
complacency

complacency

31 7.2
A feeling of being too satisfied with yourself that makes you ignore possible problems
  • noun
  • /kəmˈpleɪsənsi/
translation icon : autocomplacencia
  • The team celebrated their victory, but the coach reminded them that complacency could cost them future wins.
  • sense of complacency
  • complacency and denial
  • lead to complacency

You perk up, you sit like this, complacency looks like this.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Success often leads to complacency, right?

  • In addition, success can cause complacency and excessive caution in coping with new challenges.

    Academic text (1999)
  • And also, I would say complacency on the part of the target.

  • - It's no time for complacency.

  • For courage, not complacency, is our need today.

  • We believed we were breaking free of the denial and complacency around us.

    Academic text (1998)
  • Complacency is a killer out here.

  • A direct result of our own complacency, our indifference.

  • Deputy Speaker, there is no room for complacency and you will not find any on these benches.

  • You know, and what what's great about Nike, and certainly the Nike I grew up with is complacency was the enemy of creativity.

Synonyms

overconfidence
vscomplacency
11 4.4

A feeling of being too sure of yourself when you are wrong

focuses on satisfied inattention to risks, not belief about ability
smugness
vscomplacency
9 5.7

Being too pleased with yourself in a way that annoys others

is similar but focuses on unaware danger rather than irritating tone
self-satisfaction
vscomplacency
3 4.8

A feeling of being proud of yourself that stops you seeing your faults

is more about lack of awareness of dangers rather than plain pride
complacence
vscomplacency
1 7.9

A quiet feeling of being too satisfied and not noticing problems or danger

is the same idea but more common modern form
self-complacency
vscomplacency
8.9

A feeling of being too satisfied with yourself and not noticing problems

stresses uncritical contentment that leads to missed risks

Antonyms

Feeling unhappy or not pleased with something

Compounds

A feeling of being too satisfied with yourself and not noticing problems

How Self-Satisfied

smugness
9 5.7
complacency
31 7.2
contentment
26 2.1
satisfaction
192 2.2

Surface Forms

complacency singular
complacencies plural

Morphology

complacency = complacent (transparent) = complacent + cy

The noun is a standard state/quality formation from the adjective 'complacent' using the productive suffix '-cy'.

Etymology

Complacency comes from Latin parts com- and placere, which meant 'to please greatly', and it shares the same root as English words like please and pleasant. So complacency is being too 'pleased' with yourself—satisfied in a way that can make you ignore problems.