Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cocky The Pacers, who are young and fast and talented and cocky and on some heater themselves, think this is their time. Mike Lupica, New York Daily News, 20 May 2025 Ellie is a typical teen: cocky and defiant at times, painfully self-conscious at others. Noel Murray, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2025 Stringing episodes together, screenwriter Anderson (working from a story co-created by Roman Coppola) treats Korda as a cocky survivor of fabulous riches. Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 5 June 2025 He’s joined by elder statesman Randall (Steve Carell), idealistic AI expert Jeff (Ramy Youssef) and the richest of them all: Ven (Cory Michael Smith), a clear Elon Musk analogue who rules over his social media empire with a cocky bravado. Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 2 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for cocky
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cocky
Adjective
  • In hindsight that decision may not have been the wisest.
    Charlotte Harpur, New York Times, 5 July 2025
  • Demonstrating a talent for working in fluent french peppered with a british accent, the actor delivers one of his most indelible acting turns as the sly, wry, and wise business mogul-turned- butler who finds new purpose in life working on the other side of the fence.
    Pete Hammond, Deadline, 3 July 2025
Adjective
  • No brand should be so cocksure as to presume its products are irreplaceable.
    Cate Rubenstein, Rolling Stone, 11 Jan. 2023
  • Nayeri’s demeanor — usually cocksure — became unhinged.
    Tim Dickinson, Rolling Stone, 17 Dec. 2022
Adjective
  • One’s insolent, calling him lame and old, and the other affectedly infantile, but both are exhausting in their own way.
    Keith Phipps, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2025
  • The government, in an insolent filing on Sunday evening, rewrote that instruction.
    Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • From the front seat, Rihanna turned around and snapped a few photos of the backseat, where Riot gave his mother a sassy stare, and RZA kept his face hidden behind a French workbook.
    Rachel Raposas, People.com, 3 July 2025
  • And in a company which faithfully recreates stiff 18th-century acting conventions, McCormack’s unapologetically sassy Semira was a welcome change of pace, drawing the afternoon’s biggest laughs.
    Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 28 June 2025
Adjective
  • First, there are highly vocal AI luminaires making individualized brazen predictions.
    Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 1 July 2025
  • The brazen corruption that pervaded St. Paul’s police force in 1935 didn’t spring up overnight.
    Nick Woltman, Twin Cities, 28 June 2025
Adjective
  • 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
  • One chord appears to speak to the other, sounding almost impudent in their simplicity, equal parts ecstatic and heartbreakingly melancholic.
    Sam Davies, Rolling Stone, 10 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • One bold young woman lay on the ground and put her feet up, wide apart.
    Zadie Smith, New Yorker, 30 June 2025
  • The Hershey Company, known as a confectionery giant, is transforming itself into a snacking powerhouse through savvy acquisitions, bold brand building, and strategic retail partnerships.
    Shelley E. Kohan, Forbes.com, 30 June 2025
Adjective
  • That journey includes a flirtation with steely race engineer Kate McKenna (Condon, 42) and push-back from brash teammate Joshua Pearce (Idris, 33).
    Marco della Cava, USA Today, 27 June 2025
  • However, internal conflict between the brash younger generation and the old-school leadership threatens to set a match to this powder keg, which will sweep the Westies into the FBI’s ever-deepening investigation into the Italian mafia.
    Rosy Cordero, Deadline, 24 June 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Cocky.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cocky. Accessed 9 Jul. 2025.

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