smug

smug

adjective \ˈsməg\

smug·gersmug·gest

Definition of SMUG

1

: trim or smart in dress : spruce

2

: scrupulously clean, neat, or correct : tidy

3

: highly self-satisfied

— smug·ly adverb

— smug·ness noun

Examples of SMUG

1. It's OK to celebrate your success, but try not to be too smug about it.
2. You can wipe that smug look off your face.
3. Meanwhile, supporters are smug and righteous that the person who manages the world's leading stock exchange deserves every million. —Susan Lee, Wall Street Journal, 10 Sept. 2003
4. Alice Norcross Pratt, a local stay-at-home mom, is portrayed as smug and pious, yet we also see glimmers of her hidden longings. —Elizabeth Graver, New York Times Book Review, 27 May 2001
5. Once, Roy dared shooters to beat him with a shot between his legs. Now, he no longer passes out such smug invitations. The goalie who transformed the butterfly technique into an art form has humbly decided to keep his skates a little closer together … —Mark Kiszla, ESPN, 28 May 2001
6. She was tall and beautiful and multilingual and fiercely opinionated. One of her opinions held that the rags that passed for literary magazines on campus were so smug and tame and insular that it was hopeless to even try to reform them; they simply needed to be replaced. —Tom Perrotta, Joe College, 2000

Origin of SMUG

probably modification of Low German smuck neat, from Middle Low German, from smucken to dress; akin to Old English smoc smock

First Known Use: 1551

Related to SMUG

Synonyms

assured, biggety (or biggity) [Southern & Midland], bigheaded, complacent, consequential, egoistic (also egoistical), egotistic (or egotistical), important, overweening, pompous, prideful, proud, self-conceited, self-important, self-opinionated, self-satisfied, conceited, stuck-up, swellheaded, vain, vainglorious

Antonyms

egoless, humble, modest, uncomplacent

Related Words

blusterous, blustery, boastful, bombastic, braggart, bragging, braggy, cocky, swaggering; arrogant, assumptive, bumptious, cavalier, chesty, disdainful, fastuous, haughty, high-and-mighty, high-hat, huffy, lofty, lordly, masterful, peremptory, pontifical, self-asserting, self-assertive, snobbish, snobby, snooty, supercilious, superior, toplofty (also toploftical), uppish, uppity; domineering, high-handed, imperious; highfalutin (also hifalutin), holier-than-thou, pretentious; overconfident, presuming, presumptuous; confident, self-assured, self-confident; self-adulatory, self-congratulatory, self-contented, self-gratulatory; self-applauding, self-dramatizing, self-glorifying, self-promoting; self-affected, self-centered, self-engrossed, selfish; condescending, patronizing

Near Antonyms

diffident, self-critical, self-distrustful, self-doubting, self-reproachful, self-reproving; meek, timid, unassertive; down-to-earth, unarrogant, unassuming, unpretentious; bashful, demure, introverted, mousy (or mousey), overmodest, retiring, sheepish, shrinking, shy

Rhymes with SMUG

bug, chug, drug, dug, fug, hug, jug, lug, mug, plug, pug, rug, shrug, slug, snug, thug, trug, tug, vug