complacency

[ kuhm-pley-suhn-see ]

/ kəmˈpleɪ sən si /

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See synonyms for complacency on Thesaurus.com

noun, plural com·pla·cen·cies.

a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.

Archaic.

friendly civility; inclination to please; complaisance.
a civil act.

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Also com·pla·cence

[kuhm-pley-suhns]. /kəmˈpleɪ səns/.

Origin of complacency

From the Medieval Latin word complacentia, dating back to 1635–45. See complacent, -cy

OTHER WORDS FROM complacency

non·com·pla·cence, nounnon·com·pla·cen·cy, noun, plural non·com·pla·cen·cies.o·ver·com·pla·cence, nouno·ver·com·pla·cen·cy, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use complacency in a sentence

That mix of fatigue and complacency, experts said, likely led more people to start moving about and gathering together by Labor Day.
How pandemic fatigue and polarization led to Wisconsin’s massive Covid-19 outbreak|German Lopez|October 23, 2020|Vox
There was a certain complacency in the social sciences or academic community, the think-tank community.
Kim Stanley Robinson Holds Out Hope - Issue 90: Something Green|Liz Greene|October 7, 2020|Nautilus
In our collective experience of illness, we oscillate between anxiety and a blend of complacency and fatigue.
Thank You for the 7 PM Clapping, But Camaraderie Is Needed More Than Ever - Facts So Romantic|Ayala Danzig|October 5, 2020|Nautilus
Without condemning Krvaric before his retirement as party chair, San Diego Republicans have signaled their complacency with extremism within their ranks.
Republicans’ Relative Silence on Krvaric Video Is Deafening|Jacob Mandel|September 1, 2020|Voice of San Diego

A politician will only be as resolute as the citizen, and Indian sensitivities have been dulled by a culture of complacence.
Mumbai's Dangerous Amnesia|M.J. Akbar|November 25, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Seen in this light, infant mortality and the cruel wastage of disease were viewed with complacence.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
If he has painted vice and shown Satan in all his pomp, it is without the least complacence in the task.
Charles Baudelaire, His Life|Thophile Gautier
Where there is the shining of the face we know there is more than forgiveness; there is favour and complacence.
Separation and Service|James Hudson Taylor
The greater the number of the too longs or the too shorts the greater his complacence in the contemplation of his labours.
Blue Goose|Frank Lewis Nason
You are not adjusting your life artistically; there is too much strain, too little warmth, too much self-complacence.
The Kempton-Wace Letters|Jack London

British Dictionary definitions for complacency

complacency

complacence

/ (kəmˈpleɪsənsɪ) /

noun plural -cencies or -cences

a feeling of satisfaction, esp extreme self-satisfaction; smugness

an obsolete word for complaisance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

complacency

Origin of complacency

OTHER WORDS FROM complacency

Words related to complacency

How to use complacency in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for complacency

complacence