Complacently

adv

adv ·4 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adverb
  1. 1
    In a complacent manner; overly calm and contented; not troubled.

    "At work Mr. Burns spies Homer munching complacently on a donut and hisses that each donut Homer shoves into his fat face brings him one donut closer to the poisoned donut Mr. Burns has ordered thrown into the mix as a form of culinary Russian Roulette, only to learn from Smithers that the plant’s lawyers ultimately nixed the poisoned donut plan because “they consider it murder.”"

Adverb
  1. 1
    in a self-satisfied manner wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
gracefullygraciouslymannerly

Example

More examples

"The executioner fondled his hatchet and smiled complacently. He felt he was a cut above the rest."

Etymology

From complacent + -ly.

More for "complacently"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.