cocky
1 Americanadjective
-
cockier,
comparative
-
cockiest
superlative
verb (used without object)
noun
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short for cockatoo
-
a farmer whose farm is regarded as small or of little account
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of cocky1
First recorded in 1540–50; cock 1 + -y 1
Origin of cocky2
First recorded in 1830–40; cock(atoo), cock(atiel) + -y 2
Origin of cocky3
Apparently a playful alteration, by association with cocky 1
Explanation
Cocky means "overly self-confident," like a cocky announcement at the beginning of the season that your soccer team will win the championship without even trying. Cocky originally meant "lecherous," or lustful, but evolved to mean "arrogantly pert" in the 1700s. Cocky people don't usually stop at bragging about themselves — they'll cut you in line at the grocery store, because they think they are too important to wait. Synonyms for cocky are conceited, egotistical, and the phrase "full of himself/herself."
Vocabulary lists containing cocky
Emotions on Display
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"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
El-Sayed admits he can be cocky, and the result called for an immediate conciliatory tone to welcome skeptical Stevens voters.
From Slate ● Aug. 8, 2026
Hopkins registered the trademark in 2018 and began contacting authors who had also used the descriptor — and the list was long, because the cocky, arrogant hero is a romance trope.
From Salon ● Jul. 7, 2026
Sam got a little cocky, tried a show-off spin, got his bird legs tangled and took a tumble.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2026
Two years later, though, Jospin won a revenge of sorts when the cocky Chirac called an early general election, expecting his right-wing RPR party -- forerunner of Nicolas Sarkozy's Republicans -- to win easily.
From Barron's ● Mar. 23, 2026
But the same inexperience that made me cocky also made me unskilled.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
“Bricks seemed to work for a while, but cockies got too clever,” one survey respondent reported.
From New York Times ● Sep. 12, 2022
“If we’re not doing it, the cockies will blast them,” Mr. White said, using a slang term for small-scale farmers.
From New York Times ● May 22, 2021
Dahlstrom is most comfortable away from the office, out in the ute, visiting cockies, tradesmen and factory managers.
From Time Magazine Archive
The cockies over there used to hang the meat up on the branches of the trees, and just shake it whenever they wanted to feed the fowls.
From While the Billy Boils by Henry Lawson
"I'll get down among the cockies along the Lachlan, or some of these rivers," said Mitchell, throwing down his swag beneath a big tree.
From While the Billy Boils by Henry Lawson
If that’s not enough meta-weirdness for you, throughout the movie, Nick regularly converses with a younger, cockier version of himself, “Nicky,” who goads him to recapture his former stardom.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2022
Despite having been one of the Endurance's cockier crew members, Ms Clague said her grandfather was a much quieter man once he came home.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2022
Also: Is there anything cockier than wearing sunglasses inside a government building?
From Slate ● Jul. 12, 2019
Deng and Chen tried to build their own small version of campus life, with Deng taking the cockier, worldly lead and Chen playing his sidekick.
From New York Times ● Aug. 9, 2017
There was something so much cockier about him this year, even the way he stood and walked, like there was more weight in his gait—he never hurried anymore.
From "Tradition" by Brendan Kiely
Especially in recent years, as the city grapples with what often feels like an unending stream of plopped-in arrivals from New York, the country’s cockiest metropolis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2020
In other words, he was one of the cockiest players I've ever seen.
From Golf Digest ● Mar. 11, 2020
In “The Right Stuff” Tom Wolfe revealed that the seven Mercury astronauts – the cockiest, most sneeringly confident fighter pilots on the planet – were terrified all the time.
From Forbes ● Oct. 22, 2014
Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA The cockiest Lonnie Donegan wannabe in Nottingham tears up the roots of rock'n'roll by making like a Sun Records bluegrass balladeer appealing against an Asbo.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 28, 2013
By tradition, the Planeteers were the cockiest gang that ever blasted through high vacuum.
From Rip Foster in Ride the Gray Planet by Harold L. (Harold Leland) Goodwin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
