as in vanity
an often unjustified feeling of being pleased with oneself or with one's situation or achievements
the sense of smugness that can come with too many easy victories
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for smugness
Noun
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As its name implies, the Emotional Support lip balm ($24), is anything but a vanity project.—
Dahvi Shira,
Forbes.com,
13 May 2025 -
According to nutritionist Payal Kothari, author of The Gut, the rise of the high-protein diet has been driven by a mix of vanity and virality.—
Sara Hussain,
Vogue,
12 May 2025
Noun
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My coat and my ego were a bit tarnished as my husband rushed to help me up.—
James Barron,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
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Also, any shred of ego one has left after a lifetime of motherhood and being a caregiver/support person will get completely zeroed out while milling around a bunch of athletes.—
Denise Snodell,
Kansas City Star,
14 May 2025
Noun
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The crowd erupted in applause, the Chicago Tribune reported, as a wave of pride swept over the city’s Catholic community.—
Chris Kenning,
USA Today,
11 May 2025
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Hudson has been vocal about her pride in her family and their New England fisherman roots.—
Victoria Edel,
People.com,
10 May 2025
Noun
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The Knicks have pulled it off by being resilient, near perfect in spurts and with the help of arrogance from the opponent.—
James L. Edwards III,
New York Times,
15 May 2025
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Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way.—
Jeannie Suk Gersen,
New Yorker,
15 May 2025
Noun
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One of the critical lessons of World War II was the cost of complacency.—
Lt. General Leon Scott Rice,
Boston Herald,
7 May 2025
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The trailer opens with a couple seemingly struggling with their relationship, like issues of complacency and feelings of real love, after moving into a new home.—
Tomás Mier,
Rolling Stone,
5 May 2025
Noun
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Trump himself personifies stupidity’s essential feature — self-satisfaction, an inability to recognize the flaws in your thinking.—
David Brooks,
Mercury News,
16 Apr. 2025
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Just as there’s no dramatic build-up to Maria landing the part, there’s no romance to the process of acting it, nor the slightest whiff of self-satisfaction in recreating iconic scenes.—
David Ehrlich,
IndieWire,
21 Mar. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Smugness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/smugness. Accessed 22 May. 2025.
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