self-satisfied
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- self-satisfaction noun
Etymology
Origin of self-satisfied
First recorded in 1725–35
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.
Mr. Holmes shows how the unstable and morose Tennyson, born in the wild Romantic age of Byron, Coleridge and Shelley, grew into the settled and self-satisfied voice of Victorian England.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 20, 2026
Several of the figures rest a self-satisfied hand at the apex of their bump.
From Slate • Jul. 21, 2025
His cameos as Blazes Boylan, jitterbugging across the stage with the self-satisfied air of a country rake, were not just enlivening but renewing, capturing the character in a new idiom.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 8, 2025
Jokes, quips and asides land with neat efficiency, always off-the-cuff, never self-satisfied or self-conscious.
From New York Times • May 23, 2023
They strutted around the neighborhood in groups, joking, laughing loudly, sometimes even calling after girls, with identical stupid, self-satisfied grins on their faces.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
