Synonyms of complacent

complacent

adjective

kəm-ˈplā-sᵊnt 

1

as in nonchalant

having or showing a lack of interest or concern

the auditors were taken aback by his complacent response to their findings of fraud

Synonyms & Similar Words

• nonchalant
• casual
• apathetic
• careless
• uninterested
• unconcerned
• indifferent
• disinterested
• incurious
• detached
• perfunctory
• insouciant
• stoic
• uncurious
• calm
• numb
• aloof
• insensible
• cold
• callous
• pococurante
• halfhearted
• lukewarm
• tepid
• unemotional
• dispassionate
• insensitive
• lethargic
• remote
• listless
• heedless
• unfeeling
• mindless
• phlegmatic
• stolid
• impassive
• impervious
• unimpressed
• hard-hearted
• cool

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• interested
• aware
• concerned
• mindful
• conscientious
• attentive
• sensitive
• warm
• passionate
• zealous
• keen
• ardent
• heedful
• fervent
• caring
• warmhearted

2

as in smug

having too high an opinion of oneself

a complacent junior exec who was certain of his indispensability to the company

Synonyms & Similar Words

• smug
• proud
• arrogant
• vain
• confident
• conceited
• selfish
• domineering
• self-satisfied
• self-important
• important
• vainglorious
• prideful
• bigheaded
• egotistic
• egoistic
• pompous
• assured
• self-conceited
• stuck-up
• cocky
• consequential
• overweening
• biggety
• boastful
• swellheaded
• cavalier
• supercilious
• snobbish
• overconfident
• bumptious
• self-opinionated
• uppity
• swaggering
• bombastic
• blusterous
• haughty
• snobby
• snooty
• high-and-mighty
• assumptive
• blustery
• disdainful
• uppish
• braggart
• bragging
• braggy
• holier-than-thou
• masterful
• self-assured
• huffy
• self-confident
• self-assertive
• pontifical
• chesty
• superior
• pretentious
• high-handed
• toplofty
• fastuous
• presumptuous
• self-centered
• imperious
• presuming
• high-hat
• self-contented
• condescending
• patronizing
• peremptory
• lordly
• self-asserting
• self-congratulatory
• lofty
• self-engrossed
• self-glorifying
• highfalutin
• self-dramatizing
• self-promoting
• self-adulatory
• self-gratulatory
• self-affected
• self-applauding

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• humble
• modest
• timid
• diffident
• egoless
• meek
• self-critical
• unassertive
• uncomplacent
• unassuming
• self-doubting
• sheepish
• unpretentious
• bashful
• down-to-earth
• shy
• shrinking
• self-distrustful
• self-reproachful
• retiring
• introverted
• mousy
• self-reproving
• demure
• overmodest
• unarrogant

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of complacent

This is not the time to get complacent. — Lisa Rivera, New York Daily News, 11 June 2026

Larson is in a position to play a leading role in protecting our benefits, which are at increasing risk from this administration and complacent Republicans. — Letters To The Editor, Hartford Courant, 8 June 2026

Twentieth-century historians tended to paint the senator as an ineffectual hothead, but Tameez maintains that Sumner’s in-your-face style helped shock a complacent nation into action. — Rob Wolfe, The Atlantic, 5 June 2026

For Fröbe-Kapteyn, the fantasy led her to a fiercely complacent apoliticism in the face of the defining conflict of the postmodern era. — Eliza Goodpasture, ARTnews.com, 3 June 2026