complacently
Americanadverb
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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.
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in a pleasant or compliant way.
The frog in the pot, unaware of the threat, simply sits complacently until he boils.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of complacently
Explanation
If you do something complacently, you act in a self-satisfied, unconcerned manner. It's not a good idea to putter around complacently on the week your boss is giving you a performance review. Complacently is the adverb form of complacent, which means "with pleasure or satisfaction." When we say someone is behaving complacently, they're doing something confidently, but perhaps without fear of potential dangers. So complacency isn't such a good thing. When Hansel and Gretel make a new friend in the witch who lives in a house made of candy, they are handling things rather complacently.
Vocabulary lists containing complacently
Of Mice and Men
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To Kill a Mockingbird
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"Of Mice and Men"
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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.
The Swiss want to know why their beloved devolved system, which many, perhaps complacently, believed to be near perfect, went so catastrophically wrong.
From BBC • Jan. 10, 2026
Not merely complacently sure of herself, like Bernhardi, she is, in Stevenson’s unflinching performance, a completely unsympathetic blowhard.
From New York Times • Jun. 15, 2023
This “colorful comedy of romance and finding yourself,” according to the Guardian, tries “very hard to be liked, while at the same time complacently assuming its likability is beyond question.”
From Washington Post • Feb. 9, 2023
In blunt remarks, Lindner said Germany had slipped behind other countries because it was especially vulnerable to Europe's energy crisis and supply chain disruptions, and had complacently believed in its own economic strength.
From Reuters • Oct. 13, 2022
“It is to dig with,” said the learned creature complacently.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
