self-contentment

noun

Definition of self-contentmentnext
as in self-satisfaction

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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 self-contentment Perhaps the ultimate answer to self-contentment is have less, not more. — Chris Lau, CNN Money, 19 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for self-contentment
  1. self-satisfaction
  2. egoism
  3. self-admiration
  4. complacency
  5. smugness
  6. self-conceit
  7. vanity
  8. vainglory
Noun
  • His face is a mix of affectlessness and self-satisfaction, putting him somewhere between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, with a touch of the Cheshire cat.
    — David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2026
  • After 50 minutes of self-satisfaction, the hero fades serenely into a sunset that Dudamel made miraculously mystical.
    — Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2026
Definition of self-satisfaction
Noun
  • Kikuko sometimes mistook Shigejiro’s cheerfulness for egoism owing to the distortions produced by her illness.
    — Cynthia Zarin, Harpers Magazine, 4 Aug. 2026
  • There was too much egoism politically for each country to be all together with a unique economy, language and president.
    — Adam Crafton, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2026
Definition of egoism
Noun
  • Most of the film plays out in something close to real time, and the directors, loath to hurry scenes along, slow the action down with a technical virtuosity that sometimes tilts into self-admiration.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 4 Apr. 2025
  • At first, Oliver meekly and gratefully laps up, metaphorically, the warm milk of affection that the family bestows on him between their rounds of backbiting and oblivious self-admiration.
    — Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 18 Nov. 2023
Definition of self-admiration
Noun
  • Meanwhile, Jackson is sounding the alarm over sluggish early voting across deep-red rural Georgia, warning that complacency in GOP strongholds could jeopardize his bid for governor.
    — AJ Willingham, AJC.com, 23 Oct. 2026
  • His household becomes a microcosm of a broader societal moral decay, fuelled by detachment, indifference, corruption, complacency and the pursuit of comfort.
    — Katherine Brodsky, Variety, 16 Oct. 2026
Definition of complacency
Noun
  • The candidate, whose relishing of combative interviews and debates verges occasionally on smugness, was slated to potentially appear on 60 Minutes before the November election, people familiar with the planning said.
    — semafor.com, semafor.com, 19 Oct. 2026
  • That joke, which McNamara hits with a palpable sparkle of smugness, illustrates how deliciously blunt her comedic sensibility is.
    — Kathryn VanArendonk, Vulture, 21 Sep. 2026
Definition of smugness
Noun
  • The original 1877 building has grown not just to house the museum’s burgeoning collections and encompass its expanding role as an educator, entertainer and research institution, but to project an evolving sense of science’s self-conceit.
    — Philip Kennicott, Washington Post, 4 May 2023
Definition of self-conceit
Noun
  • My accommodations unfolded in a graceful series of rooms with couches, a four-poster bed, and a dual-vanity bathroom.
    — Samantha Falewée, Condé Nast Traveler, 21 Oct. 2026
  • Franchise values have compounded at 13% a year for more than six decades as team ownership evolved from a vanity project into an asset class.
    — Robert Gray, Fortune, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of vanity
Noun
  • The conceit is saved from vainglory by the gravity Cage brings to the performance.
    — Isaac Butler, The New Yorker, 1 Dec. 2023
  • That’s the mantra for wide receivers, a group long known for their vainglory.
    — Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2023
Definition of vainglory

Browse Nearby Words

self-contented
self-contentment
self-control
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Cite this Entry

“Self-contentment.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/self-contentment. Accessed 26 Oct. 2026.

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