smug
Americanadjective
-
contentedly confident of one's ability, superiority, or correctness; complacent.
-
trim; spruce; smooth; sleek.
adjective
-
excessively self-satisfied or complacent
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archaic trim or neat
Other Word Forms
- smugly adverb
- smugness noun
- unsmug adjective
- unsmugness noun
Etymology
Origin of smug
First recorded in 1545–55; perhaps from Middle Dutch smuc “neat, pretty, nice”
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.
If you are one of those feeling smug because you predicted this, did you take pleasure in the 4-0 defeat four years ago, or the 4-0 before that, or the 5-0 before that?
From BBC
Tuck them away in a cupboard and feel quietly smug about it.
From Salon
Michael, a long-haired Vietnam-era peacenik as the informed and occasionally smug voice of logic, earned that brand from Archie simply by being.
From Salon
Cubicle dwellers at a Texas software company endure everyday corporate indignities, including paper jams and smug bosses asking if they got the memo about cover sheets for the TPS reports.
The boys’ lips trembled, and Veronika flung her arm skyward in smug satisfaction.
From Literature
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.
