as in vanity
an often unjustified feeling of being pleased with oneself or with one's situation or achievements
the sense of smugness that can come with too many easy victories
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smugness
Noun
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Saint Laurent’s Gaby vanity bag and Miu Miu’s suede pouch nabbed the No. 4 and No. 5 spots respectively.—
Angela Velasquez,
Sourcing Journal,
1 May 2025 -
The cosmic dateline sounds like a billionaire’s vanity project in an area where the man and his galactic dreams already enjoy broad support from residents and state and local officials.—
Jim Vertuno,
Los Angeles Times,
30 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Perhaps the defining factor in a rousing year was the Dutchman’s ability to leave his ego at the door.—
Phil Hay,
New York Times,
28 Apr. 2025
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An Uncomfortable Situation For Meloni and the Vatican Vatican officials have likely had a difficult time planning the seating for the ceremony, trying to avoid having sparring leaders next to each other and not hurt anyone's ego by not giving them the front row.—
Giulia Carbonaro,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Young takes particular pride in VJMU’s identity as a Black- and Latino-owned car club, competing as a team in a sport that’s traditionally been dominated by affluent, white participants.—
Pamela Chelin,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Apr. 2025
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Given the strong gastronomy heritage of Spain and pride in local ingredients, almost every restaurant offers local wines, as well as bars and other retail locations.—
Liz Thach,
Forbes.com,
29 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The arrogance of economics and its myriad equations, charts and numbers is astounding.—
John Tamny,
Forbes.com,
21 Apr. 2025
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Others were negative traits to avoid, like irritability, arrogance, and combativeness.—
IEEE Spectrum,
IEEE Spectrum,
1 Apr. 2025
Noun
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The Complacency Danger One worry about conceiving AI as normal technology is that this might slide society into a semblance of complacency about AI.—
Lance Eliot,
Forbes.com,
1 May 2025
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Its complacency was personified by the Gandhi family, whose members dominated the Party but appeared diffident and out of touch.—
Andrew Marantz,
New Yorker,
28 Apr. 2025
Noun
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Trump himself personifies stupidity’s essential feature — self-satisfaction, an inability to recognize the flaws in your thinking.—
David Brooks,
Mercury News,
16 Apr. 2025
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Just as there’s no dramatic build-up to Maria landing the part, there’s no romance to the process of acting it, nor the slightest whiff of self-satisfaction in recreating iconic scenes.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
21 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Smugness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smugness. Accessed 11 May. 2025.
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