smug
[smuhg]
- contentedly confident of one's ability, superiority, or correctness; complacent.
- trim; spruce; smooth; sleek.
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Origin of smug
1545–55; perhaps < Middle Dutch smuc neat, pretty, nice
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for smug
Contemporary Examples
She was even sweet to that smug ingrate Miss Bunting after she kept insulting everyone at dinner.
On video, Raymond Santana was smug, boastful, and nonchalant by turns, vividly reenacting who did what during the rape.
He traces the history of ideas with skill and care, and he avoids the smug certainty of many contemporary science writers.
At first, Tywin tried to dismiss her with another one of his “smug stories.”
Then they stood in front of the chalkboard, smug and self-satisfied.
Historical Examples
"Well, that's just what I thought," he said, with smug content.
Within the LawMarvin Dana
Fraser leaned forward, that smug, vain smile curling his lips.
The Floating Island of MadnessJason Kirby
Have you grown sleek and fat and smug in my service that you should requite me thus?
Bardelys the MagnificentRafael Sabatini
I looked into his smug face, and I was within an ace of striking him.
The Historical Nights' EntertainmentRafael Sabatini
Bobby smiled up at him in smug satisfaction over his own wiliness.
The Dominant StrainAnna Chapin Ray
smug
- excessively self-satisfied or complacent
- archaic trim or neat
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Word Origin
C16: of Germanic origin; compare Low German smuck neat
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for smug
adj.
1550s, "trim, neat, spruce, smart," possibly an alteration of Low German smuk "trim, neat," from Middle Low German smücken "to adorn" (originally "to dress," secondary sense of words meaning "to creep or slip into"), from the same source as smock. The meaning "having a self-satisfied air" is from 1701, an extension of the sense of "smooth, sleek" (1580s), which was commonly used of attractive women and girls. Related: Smugly; smugness.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper