COMPLACENCY Synonyms: 71 Similar and Opposite Words

complacency

noun

kəm-ˈplā-sᵊn(t)-sē

Definition of complacency

as in vanity

an often unjustified feeling of being pleased with oneself or with one's situation or achievements a momentary complacency that was quickly dispelled by the shock of cold reality

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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 complacency The game was already well in hand at that point, and some of that is just complacency on USC’s part. — Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2026 In an exclusive interview with CNBC, UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti has warned against investor complacency as geopolitical and economic risks rise. — Leonie Kidd, CNBC, 10 Sep. 2026 That’s the risk Washington is not pricing into its complacency. — Veronique De Rugy, Oc Register, 27 Aug. 2026 All this should be understood not as a reason for complacency but as a rationale for further action. — Dhruv Khullar, New Yorker, 26 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for complacency

Recent Examples of Synonyms for complacency

Noun

Rather than through a cold call or email, the scammers lure them through websites offering self-publishing or vanity publishing.

— Snigdha Poonam, The Dial, 13 Oct. 2026
And the angelic youth Dorian Gray’s deadly descent into vanity and vice—ignited by a hubristic obsession with his own image—eerily foreshadows the grim trajectory of Wilde’s later years.

— Hannah Aizenman, New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2026

Definition of vanity

Noun

For Weinberg, learning from those failures requires putting ego aside and taking an honest look at what went wrong—and what worked.

— Preston Fore, Fortune, 8 Oct. 2026
His ego is in exact inverse proportion to Ilya’s, which is part of what makes Garfield and Borisov play so beautifully off each other.

— David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of ego

Noun

Kalhammer’s Bowery Nation, which could have given its name to the exhibition, conveys the show’s intensely personal civic pride—its Campanilismo.

— J. Hoberman, ARTnews.com, 9 Oct. 2026
The new foursome watched with pride two months later as the Artemis II astronauts flew around the moon.

— Marcia Dunn, Chicago Tribune, 8 Oct. 2026

Definition of pride

Noun

Ilya is looking for work as an assistant, and the professor, with his dandyish nerd arrogance, tells him to look at a paper he’s written and come back in a few days.

— Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 6 Oct. 2026
This standalone novel looks at the cult of celebrity, the bond among parents and children, entitlement and arrogance, all wrapped into a tightly wound plot that’s an evocative historical steeped in the Great Depression.

— Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of arrogance

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complacence

complacency

complacent

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“Complacency.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/complacency. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of complacency

noun

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