cocksure

[kok-shoor, -shur]

adjective

1. perfectly sure or certain; completely confident in one's own mind.

   She was cocksure that she was able to do the job better than anyone else.

   Synonyms: conceited, arrogant, cocky

2. too certain; overconfident.

   He was so cocksure he would win the election that he didn't even bother to campaign.

3. Obsolete.,  perfectly secure or safe.

cocksure

/ ˌkɒkˈʃʊə, -ˈʃɔː /

adjective

1. overconfident; arrogant

Other Word Forms

• cocksurely adverb
• cocksureness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of cocksure¹

First recorded in 1510–20; cock ¹ + sure

Word History and Origins

Origin of cocksure¹

C16: of uncertain origin

Example Sentences

With Maps of the Country Through Which the Routes Pass, in the Northern, Middle, and Eastern States, a book whose title was as grand and cocksure as the New World it so thrillingly described.

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Simultaneously cocksure and anxious, he chain-smoked throughout the set, while delivering verbose lyrics about modern love and digital disconnection.

Read more on BBC

They talk with cocksure confidence about the virtues of clearing forest floors, moving water hundreds of miles to get to the fire zone, to “crazy woke left” coastal policies, and on and on.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Tacopina and Rocky both scoffed at the plea deal last month and remained cocksure throughout the proceedings.

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Nevertheless, the GOP report asserts with cocksure confidence that “the weight of the evidence increasingly supports the lab leak hypothesis.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times