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

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

From 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.

From Los Angeles Times

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

From Los Angeles Times

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

From Los Angeles Times

The potential for damagingly inaccurate outputs is heightened by AI bots’ natural language capabilities, with which they offer even absurdly inaccurate answers with convincingly cocksure elan.

From Los Angeles Times