complacently

[ kuhm-pley-suhnt-lee ]

adverb
  1. in a pleased or self-satisfied way, often without awareness of some potential danger or defect:We are all part of the system that perpetuates these injustices, and we must not stand complacently by.

  2. in a pleasant or compliant way:The frog in the pot, unaware of the threat, simply sits complacently until he boils.

Origin of complacently

1

Other words from complacently

  • non·com·pla·cent·ly, adverb
  • o·ver·com·pla·cent·ly, adverb
  • un·com·pla·cent·ly, adverb

Words Nearby complacently

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

How to use complacently in a sentence

  • Instead he complacently believed that because the Federal Reserve had defeated inflation, all was well with the economy.

    Bernanke Vs. Summers? | Jeff Madrick | August 26, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • As it came near, it proved to be the clock, with a sail hoisted, and the Goblin sitting complacently in the stern.

    Davy and The Goblin | Charles E. Carryl
  • And the countess-dowager fanned herself complacently, and neither she nor Maude cared for the absence of a groomsman.

    Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry Wood
  • "Mine are enough formed, I know," complacently glancing from her attire to Ida's plain merino, and black silk apron.

    Alone | Marion Harland
  • The bank nestles very complacently under its lower wing, and in the ratio of its size is a much better looking building.

  • To encourage himself, he complacently reverted to recent citizen records.