as in wise
displaying or marked by rude boldness
a cocky young actor who thought that he was God's gift to the theater
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Recent Examples of cocky
Since his days as the cocky but lovable Shane Gray in Camp Rock, Joe Jonas has carved out a multifaceted career.
—
Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Sep. 2025
Vinnie Barbarino Was a Standout John Travolta’s Vinnie was known for his cocky swagger and flirtatious antics.
—Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Compliments find you with greater ease, too; with Venus, your planetary ruler, now in Leo, your magnetism is louder and your confidence reads as warm, not cocky.
—Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 7 Sep. 2025
Thanks to its partnership with Microsoft, resulting in near total control of PC chips throughout the 1990s, Intel got cocky.
—Tiana Lowe Doescher, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cocky
Allison Degrushe, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Sep. 2025
Vinnie Barbarino Was a Standout John Travolta’s Vinnie was known for his cocky swagger and flirtatious antics.
—Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
Compliments find you with greater ease, too; with Venus, your planetary ruler, now in Leo, your magnetism is louder and your confidence reads as warm, not cocky.
—Dossé-Via Trenou, Refinery29, 7 Sep. 2025
Thanks to its partnership with Microsoft, resulting in near total control of PC chips throughout the 1990s, Intel got cocky.
—Tiana Lowe Doescher, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cocky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cocky
Adjective
-
Kizzi’s fate, drama-wise, is not in butting heads with people in her team, but in boatmance.—
Rafaela Bassili,
Vulture,
21 Oct. 2025
-
Also, color-wise, this phone doesn’t give you many possibilities.—
Georg Szalai,
HollywoodReporter,
21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
Beane was so cocksure Allen’s solo act would work again that the GM made only minor moves to improve the offense.—
Tim Graham,
New York Times,
16 Oct. 2025
-
Set on a white-run construction site in West Africa, the story follows an edgy foreman anxiously awaiting his bride, whose presence meets resistance from a cocksure engineer clinging to the hyper-masculine status quo.—
Naman Ramachandran,
Variety,
4 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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Beautiful, not perfect; Alex can be rude, insolent, and subject to wild emotional swings and failures of decorum and logic.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Aug. 2025
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The movie’s startling originality is in its spirit, its insolent ironies.—
Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
30 July 2025
Adjective
-
Goonies is one of the classic 1980s movies that has endured over the decades and even grown in stature as subsequent generations discovered its sassy but innocent appeal.—
Borys Kit,
HollywoodReporter,
24 Oct. 2025
-
My sweet sparkly sassy silly sunshine girl!—
Kayla Grant,
PEOPLE,
24 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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The footage, obtained by French broadcaster BFMTV, purportedly shows what has been called one of the most brazen art thefts in recent memory.—
Emma Bussey,
FOXNews.com,
20 Oct. 2025
-
Urgent search for thieves behind brazen jewelry heist at the LouvreOfficials said the gang struck shortly after opening on Sunday and took just minutes.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
20 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Gemma reluctantly agrees to rebuild her impudent robot in a new body, and the sequel ends with an explosive showdown between Amelia and M3GAN, who nearly dies in a noble attempt to save Gemma and her niece, Cady (Violet McGraw).—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
29 June 2025
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Fortunately, Snow White’s newfound enlightenment does not deny her the possibility of romance, although princes are now strictly off-limits; her love interest here is a fetchingly impudent bandit, Jonathan (Andrew Burnap), who is leading a scrappy rebellion against the Evil Queen.—
Justin Chang,
The New Yorker,
22 Mar. 2025
Adjective
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Add to this Senne Lammens, who has brought calm to a previously chaotic goalkeeping situation, and INEOS’ bold approach to the summer window is starting to pay off.—
Carl Anka,
New York Times,
26 Oct. 2025
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From there, Anderson grounded the bold hosiery with understated brown leather pumps.—
Kelsey Stewart,
Footwear News,
26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
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Urgent percussion, brash guitars and Wetzel’s commanding vocal meld mightily on this new track.—
Jessica Nicholson,
Billboard,
27 Oct. 2025
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But his subtle brush-off of Collins is a sign of the cocky and brash kid already beginning to emerge — the same one who could cut down people down to size on his way to redefining himself and jolting both the New York folk scene and the world of pop at large.—
David Browne,
Rolling Stone,
26 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Cocky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cocky. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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